Philippine defence minister Gilberto Teodoro said he would discuss China's attempts to change the international order during a bilateral meeting with his Japanese counterpart in Manila on Monday. (Reporting by Mikhail Flores;

Officials say more than 400 people, half of them from China, were arrested by Philippine authorities in a raid on a suspected online gambling and scam hub in a busy commercial district in Manila

The United States condemned the "dangerous" manoeuvres of a Chinese navy helicopter that endangered the safety of a Philippine government aircraft patrolling a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, its ambassador to Manila said on Wednesday.

Disputed South China Sea airspace that Beijing claims as its own falls within Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone, where the Philippines and other countries enjoy freedom of overflight.

Manila's coast guard said the Chinese navy helicopter performed dangerous flight maneuvers when it flew close to a government aircraft conducting surveillance over the Scarborough Shoal

France, Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand—following Washington’s lead—have each staged war games or concluded alliances with Manila targeting China.

Manila says it will lodge a diplomatic protest after a Chinese helicopter came within 3 metres of a Philippine plane.

Japan and the Philippines agreed on Monday to further deepen defence ties in the face of an "increasingly severe" security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, Japanese defence minister Gen Nakatani said on Monday.

Both Tokyo and Manila are longtime allies of the United States, which has been strengthening an arc of alliances to deter China's claims in the Pacific.

Manila is shoring up military partnerships with other nations as it seeks to counter Beijing in a South China Sea dispute.

The incident marks the second confrontation this week between Manila and Beijing over disputed South China Sea islands.

Tensions over Scarborough Shoal have increased markedly since the middle of last year, when Beijing and Manila reached an “understanding” over another disputed shoal.