China and Philippines navigate tensions over US military presence.

Chinese diplomats expressed strong opposition to an expanded US military presence in the Philippines during closed-door talks with their Filipino counterparts, highlighting the intense US-China rivalry in the region. The talks aimed to assess overall relations between the two sides amid thorny issues, including Beijing's alarm over a Philippine decision to allow the US military to expand its presence to a northern region facing the Taiwan Strait and escalating spats in the South China Sea.