Philippine troop and Chinese maritime police boat confrontation at Second Thomas Reef
With China taking aggressive military actions to annex Philippine and Vietnamese territories in the South China Sea, both of these countries are building up the military capabilities, though nothing that their plan would have more than a small token resistance when facing the massive Chinese military — until the United States got involved.
The Philippines aims to buy two frigates, two helicopters, and three gunboats for deployment in the South China Sea. South Korea, Spain,
France, Italy and Indonesia are bidding on the contracts to supply the weapons.
India is planning to sell to Vietnam several warship — four patrol boats at first, with seven more later. The sale of these warships has strategic implications for India as well as Vietnam, since India has oil drilling blocks off the coast of Vietnam. New Delhi TV and Reuters.