Twitter refuses to remove China official’s fake Australian soldier image

The social media giant has ignored a request from the Australian government to remove a fake image depicting a soldier holding a knife at the throat of an Afghan child.

Twitter has prioritised its desperate hope to one day gain access to the Chinese market over removing a “vile” tweet from a Beijing official, in a “shocking” double standard.

The social media giant has ignored a request from the Australian government to remove an image depicting a soldier holding a knife at the throat of an Afghan child posted by the deputy director-general of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian.

It comes as The Daily Telegraph confirmed Australia’s ambassador to China Graham Fletcher met with officials from the Foreign Ministry in Beijing on Tuesday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. Picture: Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

The meeting between was considered a significant step toward dealing with Australia’s concerns.

The White House also on Tuesday took aim at China for its decision to slap “coercive” tariffs on Australian wine ­imports, promising to exclusively feature Aussie wines at an upcoming holiday event.

Charles Sturt University Professor of Public Ethics Clive Hamilton said Twitter’s reluctance to censor the ­graphic image, when it had done so in other instances, was due to its concern about off­ending China.

“Twitter, like many big American corporations does not want to do anything to upset Beijing,” he said.

“Twitter is banned in China, but is nevertheless used by the Chinese Government, and Twitter lives in hope that it might get access to the Chinese market.”

The tweet

Mr Hamilton said Australia needed to keep defending its principles, and not succumb to the “bullying” from the Chinese Government.

“(China) is accusing the Australian government of stoking nationalism, but I think rubbing Australia’s nose in the Afghan war crimes outrage can only stir up patriotic sentiment in Australia.”

Former ABC chairman and legal academic David Flint said Twitter’s double standards was evident in its recent decision to “suppress” a report in the New York Post about an alleged email scandal about Hunter Biden.

“Even though ordinary Chinese cannot access their platforms, those like Twitter allow the regime to use them even against Australia and the West,” he said. “The Communists saw the Australian politicians handing them an opportunity on a plate, posting a vile attack on our soldiers on a social media platform graciously provided by Twitter.”

The doctored image of an Australian soldier posted by Zhao Lijian. Picture: Twitter

Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Michael Shoebridge said he believed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s “clear but polite” res­ponse to China that it apologise and remove the tweet was the right move.

“Beijing doesn’t respect weakness,” he said.

Meanwhile former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Tuesday night told the ABC Zhao’s tweet was hypocritical because Australian media discovered the alleged Afghan war crimes while “in China the role of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) in Tiananmen in the mowing down of hundreds and probably thousands of students remains a state secret”.