Manila – The Philippines received the first of ten coast guard vessels from Japan Thursday, the coastguard said, as the two countries boost security ties in the face of their separate maritime disputes with China.

The 44 metre (144 foot) BRP Tubbataha has arrived in Manila, the Philippines coast guard said in a statement, adding that it will be used for search and rescue, law-enforcement and transport purposes.

They did not specify where it would be deployed.

This is the first of 10 Philippine coast guard ships being built in Japan, supported by Japanese aid money, as the former World War II foes seek to boost defence ties in the face of growing Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.

Japan – the Philippines’ top source of development aid – said this month it would give Manila two additional patrol vessels, and that it was discussing the possible lease of surveillance aircraft.

Japan and China are locked in a long-running dispute over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea. Manila and Beijing have overlapping claims in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has been seeking closer defence ties with Japan as well as traditional allies like the United States and Australia in a bid to boost its capabilities against regional giant China.

The Philippine military and coast guard are among the region’s weakest.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Philippine counterpart Perfecto Yasay last week called on China to observe the rule of law in settling maritime disputes.

This came after a UN-linked tribunal ruled in July that China’s claim to most of the South China Sea was invalid, handing a sweeping diplomatic victory to the Philippines.

Beijing vowed to ignore the decision, and the Philippines and China have been preparing for direct talks to ease tensions.

He’s nine and weighs 143kg, and he just can’t stop eating.

Not because he consciously wants to, but because he’s suffering from a rare genetic disorder that causes him to feel perpetually hungry.

Li Hang, who lives in the Chinese city of Harbin, was diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) in 2012 and has been struggling with obesity and other associated conditions such as a fatty liver and high blood pressure, CCTV News reported.

The boy also experiences emotional instability and was found to have a below-average intelligence level – both of which are also hallmark characteristics of PWS.

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PWS occurs in approximately one out of every 15,000 births, according to the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research.

“PWS affects males and females with equal frequency and affects all races and ethnicities. PWS is recognised as the most common genetic cause of life-threatening childhood obesity,” the foundation says on its website.

Despite being born at a normal weight of 2.5kg, Li started gaining excessive weight when he was three.

At one point, he ballooned to 167kg before losing some weight at a “diet camp”. However, in March he regained much of the weight that he lost and underwent minimally invasive bariatric surgery, which typically involves reducing the size of a stomach.

Li has been selling flowers on the streets in Harbin to help pay the medical bills for the various treatments he needs, Daily Mail Australia reported.

huizhen@sph.com.sg