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SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday (November 30) that Canberra is seeking an apology from Beijing for a tweet containing a false image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan boy.
Morrison said Australia was seeking removal of the “truly disgusting” image posted on Monday (November 30) by Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.
“It is absolutely outrageous and cannot be justified in any way … The Chinese government should be completely ashamed of this publication. It belittles them in the eyes of the world,” Morrison told the media at a press conference.
He said countries around the world were watching Beijing respond to tensions in Australia’s relationship with China.
Australia last week discharged 13 soldiers following a report on conduct in Afghanistan that prosecutors believe may have constituted war crimes.
READ: Shame and vindication as Australia digests report on Afghan military killings
The results of a multi-year investigation published in November reported that Australia’s elite special forces “illegally killed” 39 civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan, including through summary executions as part of initiation rituals.
He recommended that 19 people be referred to the Australian Federal Police, that compensation be paid to the families of the victims and that the military carry out a series of reforms.
Australia’s top military officer admitted that there was credible evidence for the killings and recommended that the matter be examined by a prosecutor investigating alleged war crimes.
“Some patrols took the law into their own hands, the rules were broken, stories were made up, lies were told and prisoners were killed,” said Defense Force chief General Angus Campbell.
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, more than 26,000 Australian soldiers were sent to Afghanistan to fight alongside US and allied forces against the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.
Australian combat troops officially left the country in late 2013, but a number of often brutal accounts of the conduct of elite special forces units have emerged since then.
