By Peter Hobson and Lewis Jackson

CANBERRA (Reuters) – China is putting increasing pressure on the Philippines to surrender its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday after a meeting with his Australian counterpart in Canberra.

“What we are seeing is a growing demand from Beijing to grant us our sovereign rights in the area,” he said, adding that the Philippines was a “victim of Chinese aggression.”

China and the Philippines have repeatedly fought this year over disputed areas of the South China Sea, including Scarborough Shoal, one of Asia’s most contested features.

Teodoro’s meeting with his Australian counterpart Richard Marles, the fifth in August 2023, reflects growing security ties between the countries, both of which have expressed concern about Chinese activity in areas of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines and other nations from Southeast Asia.

The two nations signed a strategic partnership in September 2023 and held their first joint maritime and air patrols in the South China Sea a few months later. The Philippines also joined the war games in Australia this year for the first time.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, a channel for more than $3 trillion in annual ship trade, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s claims had no legal basis, a ruling Beijing rejects.

Teodoro said China’s claims and behavior are contrary to international law, and defense agreements with partners such as Australia are an important way to deter Chinese incursions.

“Although they (China) claim to be acting under the auspices of international law, everyone knows that what they are doing is contrary to the principles of international law,” he said.

“The biggest evidence of this is that no one has actually supported his actions or activities.”

In addition to closer ties with countries such as Australia and the United States, the Philippines plans to spend at least $33 billion on new weapons, including advanced fighter jets and medium-range missiles.

Marles said Australia wants to work more closely with the Philippine defense industry and will send an engineering assessment team to the country early next year.

(Reporting by Peter Hobson, Lewis Jackson and Alasdair Pal; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Lincoln Feast.)