Last week, China and Japan accused each other of maritime incursions after a confrontation between their coast guards in waters around islands they both claim in the East China Sea
In recent months, China has had several runs-ins with Philippine vessels, and protested about U.S. ships patrolling disputed areas.
The agreement would provide a legal framework for visits of foreign troops
The vessel Toowoomba began joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea for the first time on Saturday, amid rising tensions between Beijing and Manila over a disputed shoal.
The patrols run through Thursday and include both the U.S. and Philippine navies.
one Australian diver was injured when a Chinese destroyer used sonar while near an Australian frigate in international waters last Tuesday.
Present-day hotlines like that between Japan and China exist among both allies and parties to potentially contentious situations.
At the height of Friday’s faceoff, a Chinese coast guard ship blasted a water cannon toward a Philippine motorboat
The two countries will start negotiations on a defense pact that would allow troops to be deployed to each other’s territory
Taiwan's defense ministry said the two warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a northerly direction Wednesday night, adding it monitored the movement and the situation was "normal
China has been increasingly assertive in advancing its claims on most of the South China Sea as its territorial waters, a position rejected by the U.S. and other countries.
Philippine diplomats summoned a Chinese Embassy official in Manila on Monday for strongly worded protest following Sunday's collisions off Second Thomas Shoal
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