The Philippines will continue to defend its territorial sovereignty and territorial rights after China released a "new" map that claimed the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday.

In a media interview with reporters in Palawan, Marcos said the Philippines is still developing a formal response to China's 10-dash line map, improving its territorial claims as it continues to defend the country from intrusions.

He added that the government has long upheld Philippine territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.

For context, his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., established the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan to uphold Philippine territorial rights in the region.

Despite other countries continuing to assert their claims in the region aggressively, Marcos said the Philippines "has not changed its approach" to its territory in the resource-rich South China Sea.

"It is other countries around us that have changed their approach. We have received the news that the 9-dash line has been extended to the 10-dash line," the President told reporters.

"Once again, we have received the news that now the nine-dash line has been extended to the ten-dash line. And we will have to respond to all of these—and we will. But again, these are operational details I prefer not to talk about," said the President.

When asked whether the Philippines will step up its response in the West Philippine Sea, Marcos said he was also counting on the backing of the international community since the Philippines "have stayed true" to the rule-based international law, especially the United Nations"Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"I think it puts us in very solid ground in terms of our claims for territorial sovereignty, for maritime territory," Marcos said.

"This has been validated and supported by many, many countries around the world, and we should take strength in that, and I believe that again is a very big help to the Philippines in continuing to defend our maritime borders," he added.

The nine-dash line was already declared illegal in 2016 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Despite the judgment by an international court that Beijing's claim to sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea lacks legal support, Beijing continues to control the said region, through which trillions of dollars in trade travel every year.

While the United States sends Navy boats across the sea to assert freedom of navigation in international seas, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Brunei also have overlapping claims in certain portions of the sea.