Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has ordered his armed forces to defuse tensions in the South China Sea, his military chief said on Thursday, after a flare-up with China over missions to resupply Filipino troops on a contested shoal.

Marcos' instructions came after Manila and Beijing agreed on the need to restore trust and confidence to better manage maritime disputes during a round of talks which Manila hosted on Tuesday.

But that did not stop the Philippine military from calling for China to return the firearms that its coast guard seized from Filipino navy personnel and pay around $1 million in compensation for damaging vessels involved in last month's resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal.

"I demanded the return of seven firearms," General Romeo Brawner told reporters following a command conference with Marcos. "We are demanding that China pay 60 million pesos for the damage they caused during that (incident)."

Manila has accused the China Coast Guard of intentionally ramming and deliberately puncturing navy vessels and seizing weapons to disrupt the resupply mission on June 17, seriously injuring a Filipino sailor who lost a finger. The Philippines maintains a rusting warship manned by a small crew that it ran aground on Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to reinforce its maritime claims.

Brawner said the military is looking at the possibility of charging China with the cost of reconstructing the finger of the injured sailor.

China, which claims most of the South China Sea as its own territory, has maintained that its actions in the waterway, a key conduit for trade between Asia and Europe and the Middle East, have been lawful and professional.

"The Philippines should bear the consequences of its infringing behavior," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a briefing.

She said the Philippine side "was the first to provoke by illegally transporting supplies".

Beijing rejects the 2016 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration which said its expansive maritime claims had no legal basis.

The Philippine military presented the president with several options on its operations in the South China Sea, but they will not result in significant changes to how resupply operations were being carried out, Brawner said, without giving details.

"The end goal is still to be able to bring supplies to our troops...to be able to practice freedom of navigation and overflight, without necessarily escalating the situation you're in," Brawner said.

In the same briefing, Brawner said the Philippines' armed forces will also coordinate with a senator who claimed to have knowledge of a Chinese plan to target her country with hypersonic missiles.

Senator Imee Marcos, the president's sister and head of the senate foreign relations committee, created a stir earlier this week with her video, posted on Tik Tok. She has provided no evidence for the claim.

The Chinese foreign ministry said it does not know where the claims came from, but maintained Beijing adheres to a defensive national defence policy and does not pose a threat to any country.

"Of course, we will never sit idly by and watch our legitimate rights and interests and regional peace and stability being violated and threatened," Mao said.

Beijing had previously condemned the deployment of a U.S. intermediate range missile system on Philippine soil during joint military exercises in April and May.

An army spokesperson confirmed the Typhon missile launcher remains deployed in the Philippines' northern islands, and there was no specific date yet as to when it would be "shipped out".

Manila has sought wider international support on its maritime claims, seeking closer ties with countries to advocate for a rules-based order that recognises international law.

Brawner said he was hopeful an agreement allowing the militaries of the Philippines and Japan to visit each other's country would be signed during a meeting between their defence and foreign ministers on July 8.

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Philippine military chief warns his forces will fight back if assaulted again in disputed sea

Philippine forces will defend themselves with “the same level of force” if they come under assault again from China’s coast guard in the disputed South China Sea, where Chinese personnel armed with machetes and spears injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged two of their boats in a chaotic faceoff last month, the Philippine military chief said Thursday.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. asked China to pay 60 million pesos ($1 million) in damages for the two navy boats and return seven rifles which he said were seized by Chinese coast guard personnel during the June17 confrontation at Second Thomas Shoal.

Philippine officials relayed the demands, along with a strong protest, during talks with a Chinese government delegation in Manila. The Chinese delegation did not immediately respond to the demands, a Philippine official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of not being authorized to discuss the sensitive issue publicly.

The Philippine military may also ask China to pay for planned surgery on the hand of a navy officer who lost his right thumb during the clash in the shoal when it was hit by a Chinese navy vessel that rammed his boat, Brawner said.

“What we’ll do is we will apply the same level of force that would allow us to defend ourselves,” Brawner said when asked in a news conference what Filipino navy personnel would do in case they are involved in another confrontation with Chinese forces at the shoal. “If a knife is used, for example, our personnel will also use a knife, nothing more, under the concept of proportionality.”

"When I said that we’ll fight back, I meant we won’t allow ourselves to be bullied just like that, just like what happened the last time because, of course, our adversaries had weapons,” Brawner said, without elaborating.

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, which involve China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, have long been seen as a flash point that could pit the U.S. against China if the confrontations escalate into an armed conflict. Washington has repeatedly warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the disputed waters.

Second Thomas Shoal off the northwestern Philippines has emerged as a particularly dangerous area in the disputed South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety. Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships have surrounded Philippine marines aboard a grounded ship to prevent the delivery of food and other supplies to Manila’s territorial outpost.

China and the Philippines accuse each other of instigating the confrontation at the shoal last month. Beijing accused the Filipinos of entering what it called Chinese territorial waters despite repeated warnings, prompting its coast guard to take action. The Philippines said its navy personnel were delivering food and other supplies to the Filipino forces stationed at the territorial outpost when Chinese coast guard personnel onboard at least eight boats assaulted them.

Brawner spoke after he and other top military commanders met President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in a closed-door conference where they explained progress in counter-insurgency efforts and updated plans to defend Philippine territorial interests in the South China Sea. Marcos renewed an order to Filipino forces to take steps to de-escalate tensions in the disputed waters, Brawner said, adding that the military would continue to comply.

"We want to avoid war,” Brawner said, but added that the military would never allow any foreign country to trample on the Philippines' territorial rights.

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