China considers self-ruled Taiwan, Manila's closest neighbour to the north, to be part of its territory and has threatened to seize it by force.

"If there's a war over this it is near us. What are we supposed to do?" Marcos told a news conference, adding: "We can't ignore it."

"So inevitably, despite our fervent wish to avoid any confrontation with anybody, anywhere, a war over Taiwan will drag the Philippines, kicking and screaming into the conflict," he said.

"I hope it doesn't happen... But if it does we have to plan for it already," he said, citing the large numbers of Filipinos working in Taiwan.

In an interview with Indian news agency Firstpost during a state visit to New Delhi last week, Marcos said that in the event of a confrontation between China and the United States over Taiwan, "there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it simply because of our physical geographic location".

"If there is an all-out war, then we will be drawn into it," Marcos said in the interview, which was uploaded on YouTube.

The reported comments angered Beijing, with the the Chinese foreign ministry lodging a diplomatic protest and accusing Marcos of "playing with fire" over the issue.

China and the Philippines have engaged in a series of confrontations in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis.

Since his election in 2022, Marcos has boosted cooperation between the former US colony and the United States, with which Manila has a mutual defence treaty.