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Australia asks China to apologize for posting a fake image of an Australian soldier killing an Afghan child on Monday on a Twitter account of a Chinese government spokesperson.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Beijing should be ashamed to share the “disgusting” image. The episode aggravates the escalation of political tension between the two countries.
It was during this November that an Australian Defense Forces (ADF) report came in to expose alleged war crimes committed by Australian soldiers against Afghans. The results of the ADF investigation accuse 25 Australian soldiers of involvement in the killing of 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners between 2009 and 2013. The condemnation of the acts in the public square was widespread and the matter led to an investigation by the police.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao has now posted an edited image showing an Australian soldier with a bloody knife near a child’s neck. The tweet says: “Shocked by the murder of Afghan civilians and prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn these acts and demand that they be held accountable.”
The image appears to refer to previous allegations against elite Australian soldiers accused of killing two 14-year-old Afghan boys using knives. However, such suspicions are not included in the ADF report, according to Australian public broadcaster “ABC”.
The document found, however, “credible evidence” of unlawful killings and a “culture of war” in elite units. The ADF allegations include that younger soldiers were encouraged to shoot prisoners to kill them for the first time.
Australia has already asked Twitter to remove the post, as it constitutes “misinformation”. The prime minister called it “truly disgusting, deeply offensive and completely outrageous”. “This is a false image and a terrible slander against our defense forces,” he added. For Scott Morrison, the publication “belittles” China in the eyes of the world.
As expected by a “democratic and liberal” country, Australia has developed a transparent process for investigating alleged war crimes, according to Scott Morrison, who admitted the tension between the two countries but believes that “it is not so to deal with it” . However, it does not turn its back on diplomacy and calls on China to resume dialogue.
Relations between the two countries went on a collision course this year after Canberra called for an investigation into the origin of the pandemic and how Beijing handled the covid-19 outbreak that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late November. 2019. In retaliation, China suspended imports and imposed a series of tariffs on products imported from that country, such as barley, beef and wine, which led to a trade war between the two nations.
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