Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba says his country and the Philippines will start talks on two proposed defense pacts to further boost their security alliance and would continue to fight aggression in disputed Asian waters in an obvious rebuke of China.

Chinese coast guard ship have fired water cannons, blocked and rammed a Philippine fisheries vessel in the disputed South China Sea, where hostilities between the Asian neighbors have flared alarmingly at sea and spread into the air in recent weeks.

Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships have collided at sea, damaging at least two of the vessels, in an encounter near a new flashpoint in their increasingly alarming confrontations in the disputed South China Sea.