Japan on Friday announced it would give the Philippines two new vessels to boost Manila's capacity to patrol its waters, with the allies facing Chinese aggression in separate maritime disputes.
Japan, the Philippines' top source of aid, said it was also discussing with Manila the lease of surveillance aircraft to help its under-equipped coast guard.
The new vessels and planes are on top of 10 coast guard ships that Tokyo pledged to the previous Philippine leader Benigno Aquino.
Japan and China are locked in a long-running dispute over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, while Manila and Beijing have overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
"We are talking about big-sized, 90-metre (295-foot) long vessels. We are also discussing the possibility of leasing aircraft designed for training. They are surveillance aircraft," Masato Ohtaka, deputy press secretary for Japan's foreign ministry, told reporters in Manila.
A UN-backed tribunal last month rejected Beijing's claims to most of the South China Sea which reach close to the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.
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