Just days after a leading Chinese general said the Philippines was facing its 'last chance' to resolve disputes in the resource rich South China Sea, the two countries are locked in a potentially violent confrontation.

James Hookway at The Wall Street Journal reports the Philippines newest and most advanced warship has sped out to confront two Chinese surveillance vessels in an apparent dispute over fishing rights.

Tensions are already high in the area as China declares rights to suspected oil and gas reserves beneath the sea floor.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario met with Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing and both men restated their governments' position that the Scarborough Shoal where they're facing off is in their own country's territory and neither will stand down.

While both sides are saying they want to defuse the situation diplomatically, it seems they've reached a sticking point and neither side is prepared to budge.