Two Chinese warships were spotted off a Philippine island just days the China Coast Guard launched a 'brutal assault' on Filipino soldiers in the South China Sea.

Video shows the Chinese vessels lurking between the islands of Onok and Camiaran in Palawan province on June 19.

Roy Reyes, a former village leader in the area, said he was with a doctor returning from a medical mission in Balabac town when they saw the Chinese-flagged military ship with the number 105 less than a kilometre away.

Speaking to local media, he said: 'We saw a Chinese flag. Usually, international cargo ships navigate these waters on the way to Kudat, Malaysia. This is the first time we've seen this ship.'

Local sources said the vessel may have been the People's Liberation Army Navy's Chinese destroyer Dalian (105) which is involved in military drills in the South China Sea.

An Armed Forces of the Philippines, Western Command source confirmed the presence of the warships, but did not disclose further details.

The sighting comes just two days after a violent clash between the China Coast Guard and the Armed Forces of the Philippines en route to a Philippine outpost in the disputed Ayungin Shoal on June 17.

The tense confrontation in which Chinese personnel were seen wielding bladed weapons, hurling rocks, and deploying tear gas, occurred amid a new anti-trespassing directive issued by Beijing to arrest vessels that 'illegally enter China's territorial waters'.

Expansionist China currently lays claim over almost the entire South China Sea, one of the world's busiest sea lanes. But a United Nations-backed tribunal in 2016 deemed its claims groundless.

The Communist rogue state - accused of genocide for its crimes against the Uyghur population - has been steadily increasing its influence in recent years through investment in developing countries.