Senior defence official Asia Lindsey Ford commended Manila’s action and reaffirmed Washington’s security commitments to its ally.

Chinese coastguard spokesman insists it ‘took the initiative to retrieve the blocking facilities and resume normal control on September 23’.

Beijing backed down last month over the Second Thomas Shoal but won’t do so this time, analyst says.

The move comes after Manila removed a floating barrier that Beijing installed at the entrance to the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

At Scarborough Shoal, some 900km away from the nearest major Chinese land mass, China’s coastguard ships regularly chase Filipinos away from a fishing ground that’s fewer than 240km west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon.

The Philippines will “take control again” of a contested shoal occupied by China and step up coordination across agencies.

Manila earlier said action would be taken ‘to protect the rights of our fishermen in the area’, while Beijing defended the cordon, saying ‘necessary measures’ were taken after boat ‘intruded’.

The Philippine coastguard said in a statement that it had successfully removed the floating barrier in a ‘special operation’ on the president’s orders.

The Philippine coastguard said the blockade was ‘depriving locals of their fishing and livelihood activities’.

US to help upgrade Filipino airport and naval base amid rising Taiwan Strait and South China Sea tensions

Fishing boats joined a coastguard vessel in a recent confrontation with the Philippines near Second Thomas Shoal, the latest example of grey zone tactics.

In January, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jnr agreed to find a ‘good way’ to resolve the issue.

The Philippines is considering filing a case against China over alleged dead corals in the South China Sea, saying it has enough evidence of the ecological damage.

As the long-standing South China Sea row continues, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said ‘it’s the activities that we cannot see that alarm us’.

‘We will carry it out’, Philippine National Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told reporters, as he denounced Beijing’s ‘egregious’ violation of maritime laws in the South China Sea.

Ex-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been urged by former leader Gloria Arroyo to return to the political arena amid calls for Duterte to be a special envoy to Beijing.

China Coast Guard says it issued ‘stern warning’ to Philippine vessels after ‘unapproved entry’ to Second Thomas Shoal. Philippines says resupply mission was completed despite ‘harassment, dangerous manoeuvres and aggressive conduct’.

Beijing released the ‘standard map’ last week, ahead of two key gatherings.

China’s appetite for durian has increased global demand by 400 per cent, according to HSBC, with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free-trade deal helping to accelerate trade.

Vice-Admiral Karl Thomas, commander of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, said China’s ‘aggressive behaviour’ in the South China Sea must be challenged and checked.

The joint exercises, a first for the two nations, come amid renewed tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.

China’s ‘temporary special arrangement’ allowing delivery of food and supplies to old warship seen as attempt to prevent international resistance and isolation from Southeast Asian neighbours.

Manila has ‘had enough’ of China’s conduct in the disputed waterway, analysts say. But hosting the US, Japan and Australia for joint military drills only raises the ‘spectre of dangerous run-ins’.

The mission comes 2 weeks after China Coastguard ships fired water cannon at Philippine vessels and charter boats carrying supplies to the Filipino troops on a grounded WWII-era warship at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.

While Vietnam and China are close ideologically, the long-standing and increasingly volatile maritime dispute could bring Southeast Asia’s Manila and Hanoi closer together, say analysts.

The nation’s armed forces said they would again try to supply a WWII-era ship on a reef, after China’s coastguard used water cannons during a previous attempt.