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SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison used the Chinese social media platform WeChat to criticize a “fake image” of an Australian soldier posted on Twitter by the Chinese government.
China has rejected Morrison’s requests to apologize after Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian released the digitally manipulated image of an Australian soldier holding a bloody knife to the throat of an Afghan boy on Monday.
The Chinese embassy said the “rage and roar” from Australian politicians and media over the image was an overreaction.
In a WeChat message Tuesday night, Morrison wrote that the diplomatic dispute over the soldier’s image “does not diminish respect and appreciation for the Chinese community in Australia.”
He defended Australia’s handling of a war crimes investigation into the actions of special forces in Afghanistan, and said Australia is capable of dealing with “thorny issues” like this in a transparent manner.
Australia has previously said that 19 soldiers will be referred for possible criminal prosecution for the killings of unarmed Afghan civilians and prisoners.
WeChat told an Australian government investigation in October that it had 690,000 daily active users in Australia. Morrison’s message had been read by 50,000 WeChat users on Wednesday morning.
Zhao’s tweet, placed at the top of his Twitter account, had “liked” 54,000 followers, after Twitter labeled it as sensitive content but rejected the Australian government’s request to remove the image.
Twitter is blocked in China, but has increasingly been used by Chinese diplomats who have adopted combative tactics of “wolf warrior diplomacy” this year.
China on Friday imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 200% on Australian wine imports, effectively shutting down the largest export market for the Australian wine industry, amid an increasingly serious diplomatic dispute that has seen a series of trade retaliations imposed. by China.
(This story is recompiled to correct the links in paragraphs 2, 3 and 6)
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; edited by Tom Brown)
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