Trump nominee asks China not to mess with Philippines, Taiwan

China's actions towards the Philippines and Taiwan are making the US focus on the region "in ways we prefer not to have to," President-elect Donald Trump's secretary of state nominee Sen. Marco Rubio has said.

According to JP Soriano's report on "24 Oras," Rubio in his confirmation hearing told US lawmakers of China's so-called "monster ship" that has stayed in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) for several days.

“There's this massive, I don't even know how to describe it, but this massive ship that the Chinese have built, that's like it's headed to the Philippines and the Philippines feels threatened by it, rightfully so," Rubio said.

"We've seen this on a daily basis with the harassment and so forth,” he added.

“The actions they are taking now are deeply destabilizing. They are forcing us to take counter-actions because we have commitments to the Philippines and we have commitments to Taiwan that we intend to keep,” Rubio said.

“They really need to stop messing around with Taiwan and the Philippines because it's forcing us to focus our attention in ways we prefer not to have to," he added.

The Philippine Coast Guard has been monitoring for almost two weeks the massive ship of China near the coast of Zambales. The PCG and the China Coast Guard exchanged radio challenges on Wednesday as both parties asserted their sovereignty in the disputed waters. 

Amid the continuing presence of China in the country’s EEZ, several ships of the Philippine Navy on Friday conducted a unilateral exercise at Bajo de Masinloc on Friday. 

The drill aims to hone the Navy in using modern equipment and facilities including the BRP Antonio Luna and Del Pilar-class patrol vessels BRP Ramon Alcaraz and BRP Andres Bonifacio. —Vince Angelo Ferreras/NB, GMA Integrated News