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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison today demanded an apology from China for a post on the social network Twitter posted by a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The Chinese government should be totally ashamed of this message. It disparages them in the eyes of the world,” Morrison said, referring to the image posted by the official on the censored social network in China.
Morrison stressed that the post “is totally outrageous and cannot be justified,” and said he asked Twitter to remove “immediately” the message containing “a false image.”
The controversial post by Zhao Lijian, who was still on the social network after seven hours, is accompanied by a photograph in which a soldier in a military uniform and helmet with the Australian flag holds a bloody knife to the neck of a barefoot child, whose image is blurred. , clinging to a white sheep.
The ground where they both appear is covered by the Australian flag, which also covers several inert bodies, and the Afghan flag, which is made up of puzzle pieces.
The Chinese official wrote that he was “shocked by the killing of Afghan civilians and prisoners by Australian soldiers”, adding: “We strongly condemn these acts and hold them to account.”
Zhao Lijian’s post follows Australia’s November 19 admission that its army killed 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners between 2005 and 2016 during its deployment to Afghanistan.
Australian Army Chief Rick Burr said on Friday that 13 soldiers had been notified of their expulsion, without specifying whether they were among those charged after investigating war crimes committed by the military.
Hu Xijin, editor of the Chinese state newspaper Global Times, defended the Foreign Ministry spokesman, also via Twitter.
“It is a well-known cartoon condemning the brutal death of 39 Afghan civilians at the hands of the Australian Special Forces,” Hu said.
“Why is Morrison angry at the use of the cartoon by the Foreign Ministry spokesman? It is ridiculous and shameful that he demands an apology from China,” he replied.
Diplomatic relations between Canberra and Beijing have deteriorated significantly due to various statements by political leaders, trade tensions between the two nations and political measures pushed by Australia.
“There are certainly tensions between China and Australia, but this is not the way to deal with them,” Morrison said in his message.
Australia vetoed Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from granting concessions for its fifth generation (5G) network in 2018 for security reasons, and exerted legislative pressure to prevent foreign political interference, without referring directly to China.
On the trade front, where the Asian giant is Australia’s main trading partner, Beijing has increased import tariffs on several Australian products.
The two countries also maintain deep ideological differences and disagree on issues such as human rights or militarization and free navigation in the disputed South China Sea.
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