The South China Sea issue has been a major challenge to the Philippines. Despite this, the Philippines maintains a vast and significant bilateral relationship with China in areas such as the economic sphere and culture. The Philippines does not recognise the ‘nine-dash line’ claimed by China; and international tribunal in The Hague also ruled in favour of the Philippines in 2016.However, China has not recognised the award. ASEAN and China are committed to finalizing a code of conduct for the South China Sea. To further strengthen ties, the Philippines and India have engaged in various bilateral relations, such as political defence, security, maritime cooperation, trade and investment, health, tourism, agriculture, financial technology, and are also discussing regional and multilateral issues.

The defense element of the bilateral ties has been marked by India and the Philippines entering potential deals and the Philippines navy undergoing training in India to operate missile systems. All this is sign towards the balancing policy of the Philippines leadership which faces challenges from China and at the same time is keeping engagement going with Beijing. The aggressive Chinese policy in the South China Sea and the Taiwan strait has made the region volatile with US and China maneuvering eye to eye leading to escalation and rhetoric. US and its Quad coalition partnered with Australia, New zealand and India was a step towards curbing Chinese aggression in the region. ASEAN nations of Vietnam, Malaysia, The Philippines and Brunei along with Taiwan and Japan are facing territorial waters disputes with China which claims almost the entire South China sea as its rightful water territory.