Marcos, son of the late autocrat of the same name, is leading in opinion polls ahead of the May 9 election and appears poised to complete a remarkable rebranding of the family name, 36 years after a "people power" uprising ended his father's rule.

In the first televised debate of the campaign, with just four of 10 candidates taking part, Marcos floated the idea of deploying navy ships or coast guard vessels in the disputed strategic waterway to allow fishermen to fish freely.

Marcos, 64, said he would not prioritize a military resolution to the South China Sea dispute and would continue the "correct approach" of pursuing a policy of engagement with China.

"The reason why I spoke about putting military presence there is so the government has a presence there to show China that we are defending what we consider our territorial waters," Marcos said.

China's assertive pursuit of its claims in the South China Sea has drawn repeated complaints from the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan, which all have competing claims. The United States has also repeatedly condemned China's policy.

An international tribunal in 2016 invalidated China's claim to almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea, which is also a major trade route, but Beijing does not recognize the ruling.

Marcos described the Philippines' relationship with longtime defense treaty ally the US as special and "very important", adding that he would have to "walk a very, very fine line" between China and the US.

Marcos faced off against three other contenders in the debate. There are 10 candidates in total but only four other leading contenders, none of whom attended.

New strategy

In a separate development, a small Chinese civilian aircraft flew very close to a remote Taiwanese-controlled island next to China's coast earlier this month, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, adding that China could be trying a new strategy to test its reactions.

Taiwan has complained for the last two years of repeated Chinese military activity near it, mostly China's air force flying into Taiwan's air defense zone off its southwestern and southern coasts, though relatively far away from Taiwan itself.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory and on which it has upped pressure to accept its sovereignty, has termed this "grey zone warfare", designed to wear out the island's air force and test its abilities.

The ministry said the aircraft flew very near to Dongyin, part of the Matsu archipelago, off the coast of China's Fujian province, on Feb. 5.

Having previously not identified the aircraft, the ministry said it had confirmed the plane was a Chinese civilian Harbin Y-12, a light twin-engine aircraft.

"On the Dongyin incident, of course, we have made a preliminary judgment, and we cannot rule out that they are using civilian aircraft to test the responses of our military," ministry spokesman Shih Shun-wen told reporters.

"The military will definitely take corresponding actions, but it will take various contingency actions without there being a minor incident which sets off a war."

The ministry said the aircraft entered its "defense reaction zone" but did not enter its territory in Matsu, which Taiwan defines as waters and air space extending six kilometers out from the coastline. China does not officially recognize any claims of sovereignty by Taiwan.

Shih declined to give details on how Taiwan's forces reacted to the incident, citing military confidentiality.

China's Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwanese media have carried footage of the aircraft flying right next to Dongyin and said residents could see and hear it clearly.

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