The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said it pushed back two Chinese vessels lurking near the Philippine coast.

Video shows crew of the PCG vessel BRP Cabra radio challenging China Coast Guard (CCG) ship 3304 seen sailing 43 nautical miles off Pangasinan province on February 14.

PCG spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said the CCG vessel was driven some 60 miles away from the coast, before another ship, the CCG 3103 arrived to replace it in the afternoon.

He said in a statement on Thursday: 'At approximately 3:00 pm today, the China Coast Guard vessel with bow number 3103 arrived in the vicinity, seemingly taking the place of CCG-3304, which had departed toward the Bajo De Masinloc area.

'Undeterred, the 44-metre PCG vessel BRP Cabra challenged the larger 77-metre CCG vessel, asserting its presence within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and highlighting that the CCG's illegal patrols are in violation of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the 2016 Arbitral Award.'

China has been sending several vessels near the coast of the Philippines on maritime patrol, inflaming current territorial tensions over disputed parts of the South China Sea.

Among them is the massive CCG 5901, the world's largest coast guard vessel at 541 feet and 12,000 tons, which started lurking off the seaside province of Zambales on January 4 afternoon.

Authorities believe the ships were deployed to intimidate Filipino fishermen from entering the Scarborough Shoal, a disputed fishing ground and resource-rich area in the South China Sea.

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.