Morrison asks China to apologize for being cursed by “War Wolf” -ABC 中文

Morrison’s request for an apology from a Chinese diplomat for posting a composite photo on Twitter went unanswered, instead capturing a scolding war from the Chinese cyber army on social media platforms.

In this composite photo posted by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Twitter last week, an Australian soldier points a knife at a child’s neck.

Within hours of posting the photo, Morrison asked China to apologize for the upsetting photo, and Zhao Lijian put the tweet at the top.

The Australian Embassy also relayed Morrison’s request for an apology from China on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. This Weibo received more than 20,000 messages of support to Chinese Internet users. Previously, the Weibo content posted by the Australian Embassy used to be just over a dozen comments.

Zhao Lijian’s controversial tweet cited Morrison’s strong demand for an apology, and China-Australia relations are strained.

China’s refusal to apologize largely incited verbal abuse against Morrison on Chinese social media platforms.

Even on Twitter and Facebook outside the Great Firewall of China, Morrison’s abuse did not stop.

China’s “keyboard man”

Chen Zhijie, associate professor of political science at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, said in an interview that the dispute over Zhao Lijian’s position “was not a coincidence.”

Emotional mobilization includes the figure of the “net navy”.

“The emergence of the navy can be expected,” said Professor Chen Zhijie.

“Internet Navy”, “keyboard man” and “fifty cents” often conduct cyber operations under the direction of China.

For example, the “Five-Mao Party” got his name after being accused of compiling “Five-Mao” and made abusive speeches consistent with China’s position on the Internet. Later, an American researcher discovered that the “Five-Mao” had no foundation. Most of the people are a full-time government employee.

In Morrison’s December tweet on “National Water Safety Day,” a lot of similar content appeared that poked fun at Morrison.

Behind the online scolding war

Professor Chen believes that the purpose of China’s naval activities on Twitter is to “count the birds with one stone.”

“On the one hand, the activities of the Chinese naval forces are a pressure on diplomacy, and the other is that international public opinion is in favor of the Chinese overseas communities.”

A report released by the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy (ASPI) earlier this year also supports Professor Chen’s view that the purpose of naval operations is to target Chinese communities abroad.

“Large-scale actions on Twitter and Facebook related to China’s national influence are generally directed at Chinese-speaking audiences outside mainland China. It is an important purpose to influence people’s perceptions,” the ASPI report wrote.

What other similar online curse wars?

In June, in a statement, Twitter claimed that they had eliminated several information action networks related to the Chinese state.

This includes 23,750 central China Action accounts and 150,000 accounts for homogeneous content amplification.

According to the content of the Twitter statement, they found that “most of the content is in Chinese, the majority supports the geopolitical narrative of the Communist Party of China and continues to spread false narratives about the political situation in Hong Kong.”

Professor Chen Zhijie believes that the content of China’s cyber army operations this year has started to overcome issues related to his country.

The controversy between Morrison and Zhao Lijian, in his opinion, is a manifestation of this new mode of behavior in China, which was used mainly by Russia in the past.

Street protesters of the “Black Lives Matter” movement in the United States.

“This year there are several[例子]. When the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States first came out this year, the Chinese cyber army was quite active on Twitter. “

“A large number of tweets related to the black protest movement have been tweeted and mixed with sand in American society, which has intensified disputes between parties and society in the United States. At the same time, it is better for us to educate the Chinese people.

Song Guoyou, an American research expert at Fudan University in China, said in an interview: “The situation in the United States will allow more Chinese to support the government’s efforts and criticize and boycott the United States.”

“America’s moral authority has actually weakened.”

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