China is putting ever greater pressure on the Philippines to cede its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, Manila's Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday after meeting his Australian counterpart in Canberra.

See how China has spent tens of billions of dollars turning farm fields and seaports into military complexes on Hainan and remote outposts in the South China Sea.

China stakes claim to almost the entirety of the South China Sea. It has a series of disputes with several Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines and Vietnam over territory in the waters, which are part of a key shipping route in Asia.

Indonesia said on Monday it does not recognise China's claims over the South China Sea, despite signing a maritime development deal with Beijing, as some analysts warned the pact risked compromising its sovereign rights.

Hanoi is building runways, military structures on reclaimed islands at a ‘surprising’ pace, a think-tank said.

The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly said the country is a non-claimant state in the South China Sea and has no overlapping jurisdiction with China. Yesterday, the ministry said its position was unchanged and the agreement would have no impact on its sovereign rights.

Over the weekend, the two nations signed a joint development agreement that refers to “overlapping claims” in the disputed waterway.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed two laws reaffirming the extent of his country’s maritime territories and right to resources, including in the South China Sea, where the new laws clash with Beijing’s extensive territorial claims.

China is putting ever-greater pressure on the Philippines to cede its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday after a meeting with his Australian counterpart in Canberra.