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.

The Philippines has protested China’s baselines around the disputed Scarborough Shoal, as tensions between the two nations build up anew over their competing claims in the South China Sea.

Donald Trump faces a more confrontational China in the South China Sea in his second term, escalating the risk of a conflict.