Australia and the Philippines are strengthening their defense ties with an emphasis on China.

Australia and the Philippines are strengthening their defense ties with an emphasis on China.

Australia and the Philippines signed a new defense cooperation agreement on Sunday, raising the level of a 1995 agreement, Reuters reports.

The agreement, signed in Manila in the presence of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, includes maritime awareness and information sharing, joint exercises, disaster response, training and defense infrastructure. Albanese also announced a new Australian investment in maritime awareness, which includes UAV technology and training.

In recent years, Australia has participated in the construction of defense infrastructure at several bases around the Philippines, while making claims about China's "aggressive behavior" in the South China Sea.

China, for its part, has repeatedly rejected such claims, emphasizing that Australia is not "in a position to interfere in maritime issues between the relevant countries."