China’s inflammatory photoshop of Aussie soldier holding knife to child

China’s state-run media doubled down on an offensive tweet by the country’s foreign ministry, saying Scott Morrison’s calls for an apology were “ridiculous”. GRAPHIC

China’s state-run media doubled down on an offensive post tweeted by the country’s foreign ministry, with Global Times editor Hu Xinjin describing it as a “popular cartoon” and saying calls for an apology were “ridiculous and shameless.

“It is a popular cartoon that condemns the Australian Special Forces’s brutal murder of 39 Afghan civilians. On what ground does Morrison feel angry over the use of this cartoon by the spokesperson of Chinese FM? It’s ridiculous and shameless that he demanded China to apologise,” Mr Hu posted on Twitter.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison had earlier demanded an apology for the “repugnant” photoshopped image of an Australian soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child, and insisted it be pulled down from Twitter immediately.

Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, &call for holding them accountable. pic.twitter.com/GYOaucoL5D

— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) November 30, 2020

Mr Morrison made a direct demand for the Chinese Government to remove the tweet and apologise, while Australian officials have contacted Twitter to seek its immediate removal.

China’s foreign ministry tweeted the inflammatory image on Monday as he called for soldiers involved in the alleged Brereton report war crimes to be “held to account”.

Despite Australia having investigated, revealed and moving towards prosecution of the alleged war crimes, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, condemned the actions described in the report.

It is despite Beijing refusing to acknowledge alleged human rights abuses in Xinjian against the Uyghurs population.

Mr Zhao tweeted the photoshopped image, showing an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of a child who is covered in an Australian flag and holding a lamb. The boy is standing on a puzzle of the Afghan flag.

It included the caption: “Don’t be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace”.

“Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, & call for holding them accountable.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian posted the inflammatory image. Picture: Greg Baker/AFP

The tweet comes after Australia released findings from the Brereton Report which found “credible information” 25 special forces soldiers committed 39 murders of Afghan civilians, and mistreated two others.

Mr Morrison said the tweet was “deeply offensive” to every Australian, including all those who served in the Australian Defence Force now and in the past.

“It’s entirely outrageous and it can’t be justified on any basis whatsoever,” he said.

“The Chinese Government should be totally ashamed of this post. It diminishes them in the world’s eyes.”

He said there were undoubtedly tensions between the two nations, but “this is not how you deal with them”.

“The way to deal with this is by engaging directly in discussions and dialogue between ministers and leaders,” Mr Morrison said.

“Despite this terribly offensive post, I would ask again and call on China to re-engage in that dialogue.”

It appears pro-China online activists had been sharing the “repugnant” and inflammatory doctored image before it was used by Beijing’s official foreign ministry spokesman.

As well as Twitter, it appeared to have been shared on Chinese social media site Weibo and video sharing site ACFun.

One online user attributed the image to a Weibo user dubbed “Ugly Kirin”.

There were posts on Twitter of the same image used by China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian as far back as November 24.

“Slap on your face!!! #Australia,” one user posted.

Australia accused China of human rights because China arrested 12 smugglers. So, what are the human rights that Australia is talking about? Is it sending troops to shoot 39 civilians on the territory of other countries? pic.twitter.com/PEth7Z7GE6

— TwiChen (@Twichen) November 25, 2020

Another Twitter user accused Australia of hypocrisy for commenting on China’s human rights issues.

“So, what are the human rights that Australia is talking about? Is it sending troops to shoot 39 civilians on the territory of other countries,” they posted.

Relations between Australia and China have been growing increasingly tense, as Beijing piles on a series of overt and covert trade actions against Australian goods.

It also recently released a list of issues it says Australia did to cause the tensions, including calling for an inquiry into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It follows recent comments from Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova who described the Brereton report as “shocking” and that it caused them to “reassess the true meaning” of Canberra’s call for a “rules-based world order”.

Mr Morrison said despite the offensive post, he hoped the incident could be used to help “reset” relations.

“I would hope that this rather awful incident, hopefully, may lead to the type of reset where this dialogue can restart without condition,” he said.

He said he was “extremely proud” of Australians who pulled on the ADF uniform.

“I’m proud of their dedication, of their loyalty to this country and its values,” Mr Morrison said.

The Prime Minister said where there were incidents such as those detailed in the Brereton report, Australia dealt with them in a “transparent and open way”.

“That is what a free, liberal democratic country does,” he said.

Labor frontbencher Tony Burke heard about the development at a press conference but said from the description provided it was “horrific and appalling”.

“The most important thing that needs to be said immediately to every Australian, with all the reports out there at the moment about the behaviour of a few, is Australia stands proud and continues to have trust in our armed forces,” Mr Burke said.

“The message to every country in the world is we don’t change our values.

“Australia doesn’t get intimidated into changing its values.”

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said Australia’s condemnation of the doctored image was bipartisan, describing the post as inflammatory and deeply offensive.

Herbert MP and Afghanistan veteran Phil Thompson said he had been left angered, disappointed and with a “sense of unease” by the “deplorable slur”.

“What the Chinese Government has done is a slap in the face to every single one of our men and women in uniform,” he said.

“It’s a betrayal from a nation that was supposed to be a friend.”

The post received bipartisan condemnation, with Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong condemning it “in the strongest terms”.

“It is gratuitous, inflammatory and it is deeply offensive. This is not the behaviour of a responsible, mature international power,” she said.

“These tactics will be met with unified condemnation in the Australian community and they will be judged harshly by the international community.”

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Frances Adamson called China’s ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye to set out the Australian government’s “firm and clear position” on the matter.

Labor’s infrastructure and transport spokeswoman Catherine King had earlier said the Federal Government should ask Chinese officials to take the image down.

Earlier this morning, prior to the image being posted, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said Australia wanted “solutions, not name calling” to the tensions between the two nations.

He said both Australian and Chinese businesses were suffering from the trade actions undertaken by Beijing.

“We continue to be ready to sit down and have dialogue with China to try to resolve this issue. Australia is willing to come to the table,” Senator Birmingham said.

“Australia has not changed in our approach to our perspective and we urge China to have the same attitude.”