Penny Wong says it was a ‘big call’ for Scott Morrison to respond directly to Chinese tweet

Australia’s shadow foreign minister says she hopes the prime minister thought ‘very carefully’ about his reaction to a provocative tweet.

Shadow foreign minister Penny Wong has warned it was a “big call” for prime minister Scott Morrison to respond directly to a provocative image tweeted by the Chinese government.

Mr Morrison last week demanded an apology after the Chinese foreign ministry posted a fake image of an Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife to the throat of an Afghan child.

“It is utterly outrageous and cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever,” he told the media on Monday.

“The Chinese government should be totally ashamed of this post.”

In an appearance on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning, Senator Wong said she hoped Mr Morrison took advice and carefully considered his reaction.

“I’d make this point in diplomacy: you always have to think carefully about how you calibrate your response,” she said.

“It is a big call to escalate directly to the national leader. And I hope that Scott Morrison thought very carefully about that decision.”

She added it would have been “good practice” for the government to consult the opposition before responding, saying she used to have calls of that kind with prior foreign minister Julie Bishop.

“I regret that doesn’t happen now,” Senator Wong said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week demanded an apology for the tweet. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

The tweet came after an explosive Australian government report found “credible evidence” of the alleged unlawful killing of 39 prisoners and civilians by special forces troops in Afghanistan.

The image included a caption that said “Don’t be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace!”.

Labor backed Mr Morrison’s stance on the tweet, with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese telling parliament Australia’s condemnation was “above politics”.

Senator Wong repeated this but said there were broader issues with the way the government has handled the China relationship.

“President Xi has been in power since 2013, we have seen the world, the world has seen China become much more assertive, at times much more aggressive in prosecuting its interests,” she said.

“Yet, over the same period of time, under this government – elected also in 2013 – we’ve seen Australia become more and more economically dependent on China.

“In fact we are the country that is most economically dependent on China.”

Senator Wong said there were broader issues with the way the government has handled the China relationship. Picture by Sean Davey.

She said it was likely China would continue with this type of behaviour, and different strategies needed to be considered.

“We do have to work with our exporters to diversify our markets, to enable them to make sure we have more diversified opportunities, instead of what has happened which is a greater reliance on China,” she said.

Senator Wong said Labor’s strategy on China would include such diversification efforts, as well as working with other nations to enforce trade rules and focusing on the national interest.