Australia has voiced concern over Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea last week, which saw three Chinese coast guard patrol vessels block and use water cannons against Philippine supply boats at Second Thomas Shoal, a Philippine-occupied shoal in the Spratly Islands. “The Australian Government has consistently expressed concern about the dangerous or coercive use of coast guard vessels in the South China Sea. Such actions are destabilising,” the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said in a statement on Monday. The Philippines has condemned the Chinese vessels’ illegal actions and told China it needed to “back off” from the zone. “Ayungin Shoal (another name for Second Thomas Shoal) is part of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), which is an integral part of the Philippines, as well as the Philippines exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, and over which the Philippines has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction,” Teodoro Locsin, the …