US officials condemn China after fake Aussie soldier photo scandal
Top US officials have condemned China for sharing a graphic fake image of an Australian soldier, and spreading “disinformation” and “disingenuous statements”.
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Top US officials have condemned China for sharing a graphic fake image of an Australian soldier, and spreading “disinformation” and “disingenuous statements”.
US Ambassador to Australia Arthur Culvahouse Jr said the People’s Republic of China should follow Australia’s example and come clean about its own human rights abuses, as well as the origins of COVID-19.
“As we know from leaked reports published this week, the PRC government has yet to come clean on the origins of the COVID-19 virus, which is daily killing thousands of people worldwide,” he said.
“Yet its Foreign Affairs spokesperson thinks it appropriate diplomacy to spread disinformation through fabricated images and disingenuous statements.”
Mr Culvahouse said Australia “responsibly investigated and disclosed allegations” its soldiers allegedly committed crimes in Afghanistan.
“The PRC would do well to follow Australia’s example and disclose to the world all it knows about the origin of the COVID-19 virus,” he said.
“And the world can only wish that the Chinese Communist Party were to bring the same degree of transparency and accountability to credible reports of atrocities against the Uighurs in Xinjiang.”
US State Department deputy spokesman Cale Brown on Tuesday also tweeted a message of support for Australia.
“We stand with our Australian partners in calling out (China’s Foreign Ministry) for spreading disinformation by fabricating an image of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan,” he said.
“This is a new low, even for the Chinese Communist Party.”
Mr Brown said the Chinese Communist Party’s latest attack on Australia was “another example” of its “unchecked use of “disinformation and coercive diplomacy”.
“Its hypocrisy is obvious to all. While it doctors images on (Twitter) to attack other nations, the CCP prevents its own citizens from reading their posts,” he said.
“As the CCP spreads disinformation, it covers up its horrendous human rights abuses, including the detention of more than a million Muslims in Xinjiang. The CCP seeks to change the subject to avoid accountability. We can’t let them.”
PM’S PRAISE FOR CHINESE AUSSIES AMID NEW ATTACKS
Chinese Australians have been reassured they are valuable contributors to the community amid a deepening diplomatic crisis with Beijing.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has posted a statement in Mandarin on Chinese social media platform WeChat overnight in an effort to cool down tensions and circumnavigate Beijing’s propaganda machine by directly explaining how Australia has dealt with the Afghan war crimes report.
“Australia’s transparent and honest way of dealing with this issue is a credit to this nation and a credit to all those who serve this nation in uniform,” Mr Morrison said.
“Where there are alleged events that have taken place that require action, well we have set up the honest and transparent processes for that to take place.
“That is what a free, democratic, liberal country does.”
Mr Morrison said Australia would “continue to remain true to our values and the protection of our own sovereignty”.
“This is in our national interests,” he said.
“The post of a false image of an Australian soldier does not diminish our respect for and appreciation of our Chinese Australian community or indeed our friendship with the people of China.”
Mr Morrison also praised Chinese Australians who helped protect the nation in the first COVID-19 wave by going into isolation in their homes.
It comes as a Chinese publication hurled a series of new attacks at Australia, this time publishing a cartoon of a bloodied kangaroo, targeting Sky News’ Chris Smith and even New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Overnight and continuing into this morning, Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece The Global Times published and tweeted the anti-Australia content, which also targeted Mr Morrison.
In an opinion piece accompanying a new cartoon of a kangaroo holding a scale while a bloody knife lay beside it, author Yu Luxu defended a doctored image depicting an Australian soldier holding a knife to a child’s throat that was shared by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian.
The piece accused Morrison of having a free speech double standard.
“To clarify matters: A Chinese artist expressed his anger and condemnation against Australian troops’ war crimes in a neighbour (sic) country of China with a cartoon,” Luxu wrote.
“A Chinese diplomat put it on Twitter to show his own opinion about these outrageous crimes. That’s all. Did they do anything wrong?
“They are practising (sic) their freedom of speech, something Australia claims to love and fight for. “Ridiculously, such moves are intolerant to Australia’s current PM.”
The piece was followed by an article attacking Ardern for also condemning the doctored image, titled “Kiwis bleat like Aussie sheep but don’t condemn Afghan killings”.
“Ardern said it was ‘an unfactual post’ and the cartoon was ‘not factually correct.’,” the piece read. “However, the satirical cartoon was illustrated based on the inquiry report released by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force.”
The publication then turned its attention to Smith, posting a clip of him on Sky News pointing out that many countries, including China, have murky pasts when it comes to war.
“No nation, no army, no government, can claim to be cleanskins from their own history of war,” he said.
“The Chinese in particular have nothing to be proud about from a long list of outrageous incidents on their own people, let alone innocent foreigners.”
Smith then used the Shanghai communist massacre of 1927 and the government’s burning down of the city of Changsha, killing the entire population, in 1938.
The Global Times called these examples “hilarious” and “uninformed”.
In response to a global effort to boycott Chinese products and buy Australian wine after Beijing slapped a 212 per cent tariff on our alcohol, an editorial slammed Australia as “arrogant.”
“Given the size of Australia’s economy and Australia’s trade surplus with China, the land down under is way too arrogant when taking boycotts of Chinese products as a weapon against Beijing,” the piece read.
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#SolidaritywithAustralia
— Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (@ipacglobal) December 1, 2020
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Originally published as US officials condemn China after fake Aussie soldier photo scandal
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