The Philippines on Sunday welcomed what it saw as a gesture of support from the United States amid an escalating row with Beijing over disputed territory in the South China Sea.

Manila has in recent months accused China of taking increasingly aggressive action in staking its claims to the disputed waters, prompting the US Congress on Friday to pass a resolution calling for a peaceful settlement of the spat.

"The resolution supports the Philippine position of peaceful, multilateral and rules-based settlement of the... disputes in accordance with international law, and condemns the use of force and overt threats," Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

"We welcome the support of US congressmen to the Philippine position," del Rosario said in a statement.

China and the Philippines have overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea, which is believed to hold vast gas and other natural resources, along with Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

The Philippines, which has one of the weakest military forces in the region, has been seeking greater support from the US, its main defence partner, in standing up to the Chinese.

Manila has also called for multilateral talks to settle the dispute and has pressed China to bring the issue before a UN-backed tribunal.

But China has insisted on bilateral talks only and rejected calls to bring the dispute before the tribunal.

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