Scott Morrison’s ‘tackle China’ slip goes viral after UN climate summit

Scott Morrison has unintentionally gone viral in China after an unfortunate slip of the tongue during a speech on climate change.

An unfortunate slip of the tongue from Scott Morrison has gone viral after the Australian Prime Minister gave a speech at the UN climate summit.

During a presentation on Tuesday, Mr Morrison mistakenly said there needed to be “global momentum to tackle China”, where he intended to say ”climate change”.

Since then, the video has gone viral on Chinese social media and state-run media websites.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness attended a meeting at the summit. Picture: Getty images.

A faux pas from the PM? Scott Morrison appears to say "global momentum to tackle 'China'" instead of 'climate change' before correcting himself, in his address to #[e-mail]/LDz4iPracQ

— Krishani Dhanji (@KrishaniDhanji) November 2, 2021

The hashtag “Australian Prime Minister Misrepresents Tackling Climate Change As Tackling China” has been viewed more than 130 million times on Weibo – a Chinese microblogging website.

One user suggested that it was not a slip of the tongue but he was in fact “speaking his mind”.

The sentiment was echoed in China state-run media with an opinion piece published from Guancha.com which said the Australian PM’s head was “full of China”.

“He doesn‘t have a passion to protect the environment but does have anti-China passion under the name of protecting (the) environment,” the opinion piece said.

“This episode is the actual reflection of his mind.”

The PM’s comments went viral on social media in China. Picture: Getty images.

The faux pas comes just days after China’s bullying tactics were laid bare in a Pentagon report.

The information was revealed in the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress on China’s military power, with Australia used as an example of how the People’s Republic flexes its muscle with tariffs.

The report also stated China is plotting to quadruple its nuclear weapons stockpile in a “major expansion” within just a handful of years.

But Australia’s treatment by China was also mentioned in the report.

“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) employs economic coercion to advance its objectives during periods of political tension with other countries and to exert costs on governments, companies, and individuals that cross Beijing’s political red lines,” the report states.

“Both the threatened and actualised imposition of import bans, investment restrictions, product boycotts, and other costly measures have increased since 2018.

“In these cases, China seeks to leverage its economic influence to impose cost and alter the behaviour of targeted actors, as well as discourage others from pursuing similar actions.”