Mr Panelo told a conference the Philippines would support the US’ plans to increase its presence in the highly debated waters. According to Rappler, he was asked for reaction to US acting defence secretary Patrick Shanahan’s comments that Washington would no longer “tiptoe” around China’s behaviour in the seas. He told reporters in a briefing: “The Philippines would want stability in this part of the world, in that part of the world.

“The Philippine position is that every country has a right to use the waters in the South China Sea as well as the airspace.

“And we want peace and quiet in that area.

“So anything that will provide such kind of atmosphere, we are for it.”

He added: “If the presence of the US will make it so, then that’s good for us – all of the claimants.”

The comments come amid growing anger between the US and Beijing over who owns parts of the valuable South China Sea.

US President Donald Trump’s administration revealed it had sold 34 drones to allies in a bid to help the US and its allies gather greater intelligence into the disputed waters, potentially thwarting Chinese progress in the area.

The Pentagon announced on Friday it would sell the 34 ScanEagle drones, made by Boeing, to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The price comes to around $47million (£37.1million).

According to CNN, Mr Shanahan said: “We can’t continue to look the other way as countries use friendly rhetoric to distract from unfriendly acts.”

He added that Washington had a “deeper and broader” networks of allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific than China.

China claims almost all of the strategic South China Sea and frequently lambastes the United States and its allies over naval operations near Chinese-occupied islands.

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims.

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