Scott Morrison condemns Chinese official’s fake Australian soldier tweet
Chinese officials have doubled down on a fake image of an Aussie Digger, suggesting the PM’s complaint meant Australia believed the war crimes were “justified”. Take our poll.
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China has sunk to a new low in its propaganda war after a prominent official shared a fake image of an Australian Digger threatening to slit the throat of an Afghan child.
A furious Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned the image — created by a self-described “wolf warrior painter” — as “repugnant” saying the Chinese government should be “totally ashamed” and apologise.
The violent image was shared by Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Twitter. Mr Zhao earlier this year described the Tiananmen Square massacre as simply a “political disturbance” for which the Chinese government’s response was “fully correct”.
The Australian government also appealed to Twitter directly to remove the “false” image but the social media giant did not respond to requests about what action it would take.
The picture of a soldier holding a bloodied knife to the throat of an Afghan child covered in an Australian flag and holding a white lamb with the caption “Don’t be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace” was reportedly created by a computer graphics artist in China.
In a tweet accompanying the image, Mr Zhao said: “Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, & call for holding them accountable”.
Slamming the post Mr Morrison said: “It is deeply offensive to every Australian, every Australian who has served in that uniform, every Australian who serves in that uniform today … it is utterly outrageous and can’t be justified on any basis whatsoever.”
Mr Morrison said the Chinese Government should be “totally ashamed of this post”.
“It diminishes them in the world’s eyes,” he said.
The PM 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.”
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.
China has been accused of massacring thousands of citizens in the 1989 pro-democracy crackdown that culminated in tanks in Tiananmen Square.
It has also waged an ongoing campaign of repression against the Muslim ethnic Uighur population of Xinjiang, which human rights campaigners say includes forced sterilisation and mass concentration camps.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Frances Adamson called China’s Ambassador to Australia to highlight the government’s concerns about the Twitter post, but hours later the image remained online.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the tweet was “grossly offensive”.
“It is an appalling disgusting and outrageous piece of social media,” she said.
Ms Payne described the image as an example of the “absolute scourge of disinformation and misinformation” on social media. Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said she was also outraged and warned the Chinese government it would be judged on the world stage.
“It is gratuitous, inflammatory and it is deeply offensive,” she said. “This is not the behaviour of a responsible, mature international power.
“These tactics will be met with unified condemnation in the Australian community.”
The image had been circulating on Chinese social media for at least six days before it was shared by Mr Zhao, and followed the release of the Brereton Report, which found “credible information” 25 special forces soldiers committed 39 murders of Afghan civilians.
The artist behind the offensive picture, with the username “wuheqilin”, appeared to welcome the endorsement of his image by a Chinese government official.
Chinese officials last night doubled down with foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying suggesting Mr Morrison’s complaint meant Australia believed the war crimes were “justified”.
“The Australian side is reacted so strongly to my colleague’s Twitter, does that mean that they think the cold blood murder of Afghan innocent civilians is justified, while other people’s condemnation of such crimes are not justified?,” she said.
“Afghan lives matter.”
Ms Hua said Australia should offer an “official apology” to the Afghanistan people, which the federal government had already done earlier this month.
“They said that the Chinese government should feel ashamed,” she said.
“It is Australian soldiers who committed such cruel crimes. Shouldn’t the Australian government feel ashamed?”
Diplomatic relations between Australia and China have soured in the past year, with Beijing targeting a hit list of exports including barley, beef, wine, coal, copper, sugar and seafood. Earlier this month Mr Zhao confirmed the aggressive trade tariffs and attempts to block Australian goods from Chinese ports were in direct response to a list of “grievances” Beijing had with Canberra.
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