China attacks Australia on Twitter: the photomontage of the alleged infanticide angered Australians

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday condemned the “scandalous tweet” of Chinese government spokesman Lijian Zhao and called on Beijing to publicly apologize. Zhao sparked outrage when he shared an edited photo on the platform of an Australian soldier holding a bloody knife to the throat of an Afghan child. “Don’t be afraid, we have come to bring you peace”, says the title of the photomontage. Zhao writes: “We condemn such acts and ask that the soldiers be held accountable.”

The post was shared days after a war crimes report was released by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. Special forces reportedly killed dozens of unarmed civilians and prisoners between 2005 and 2016. This is the result of an investigation report submitted on November 19 after four years of investigation. As a result, high-ranking commanders forced young soldiers to kill defenseless people, Australian general Angus John Campbell said.

The results of the investigations were based on the most serious violations of military codes of conduct. “The unlawful killing of civilians and prisoners is never acceptable,” he said.

Australian Prime Minister Morrison described Zhao’s tweet as a scandalous and disgusting insult to the Australian military. He asked Twitter to delete the post. “The Chinese government should be ashamed of this publication,” Morrison said in a tweet that garnered thousands of responses in hours.

Chinese Foreign Minister Hua Chunying sees no mistake in the Chinese government’s behavior. “Some Australian soldiers have committed serious crimes in Afghanistan. The details are frightening and shocking. There are reports of 14-year-old boys having their throats cut, the foreign minister said in a televised appearance according to “News.com.au”. Australia’s anger over the tweet is out of place.

Relations between the Canberra and Beijing governments have steadily deteriorated in recent months. China, Australia’s largest trading partner, recently reacted against Canberra and stopped importing large numbers of agricultural products such as beef, barley and timber.

The state-controlled Chinese press has attacked Australia several times in various areas. For its part, Australia banned the Chinese telecom giant Huawei from rolling out the 5G network and called for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.

The publication of the controversial tweet is the latest example of a new level of aggressive communication by the Chinese government towards abroad. Since last year, many diplomats have spoken out on Twitter (although intelligence services are blocked by China) and have sometimes vehemently and controversially defended their government’s position.