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The account by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Trieu Lap Kien sparked a strong reaction from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison – Screenshot
Kien’s post last week was like a can of oil being poured into the Australia-China bilateral relationship. According to the Australian newspaper, relations between Australia and China have sunk to the bottom of almost 50 years.
New Zealand also pressing
On November 30, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison immediately requested an apology and criticized China’s diplomacy, saying that this “fake” photo was “a bad affront to the national forces.” Australian Ward – men, women who have served in this shirt for over 100 years. “
On December 1, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also condemned the photo above, saying New Zealand spoke directly to express concerns with Chinese authorities.
“This is a false image. It is inaccurate. Therefore, considering our principle that images like this are being used, we will highlight our concerns and act directly” – the AP news agency quoted Ms Ardern.
The AP (US) news agency also commented that criticism of Ms Ardern is still much softer than Australia’s criticism of China.
Indeed, like Australia, New Zealand now considers China an important economic partner, so the Ardern administration faces a difficult choice between the tight cohesion of everything and the other. partners can hardly be separated.
The story is set to be even more tense when China does not back down, while Australian public opinion is even angrier.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hoa Xuan Oanh, on the night of November 30, his fellow defender Trieu Lap Kien wrote on Twitter: “The Australian side is reacting too strongly to my colleague’s Twitter.
Does this mean that they think the cold-blooded murder of innocent people in Afghanistan is right, while others who condemn such crimes are unjustified? The lives of Afghans are important. “
The fact that China has reacted does not surprise many people. In the past, Beijing is known to have deployed a harsh diplomatic strategy in the outside world. With this approach, Chinese diplomats do not hesitate to speak in forums and social networks to express their views, protect the image and national interests.
Commenting on Mr Trieu Lap Kien’s actions, former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce scoffed: “This is not the job of a wise diplomat, this is how a stupid high school student behaves…”
It gets worse and worse
Over the years, relations between Australia and China have been strained, due to the outlook against Chinese influence in the Australian government.
This year things took a turn for the worse, after Prime Minister Morrison called in April for an international investigation into the origin of the new strain of the corona virus (which causes COVID-19).
The Chinese side viewed Morrison’s actions as “political manipulation.” And since May this year, Australian exports to China are believed to have been challenged by Beijing in a variety of ways, from tariffs, anti-dumping investigations to cumbersome customs procedures.
In September, the last two reporters working for Australian newspapers in China were relocated after being “questioned” by authorities on issues related to the case of reporter Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist. work for Chinese state media.
Furthermore, the past tense is also the time when Australia made China dissatisfied in decision-making on international affairs.
Australia is the first country to ban the Chinese company Huawei Telecom Company from participating in the 5G network project in the country. Both Huawei and 5G are hot spots in the competition between the United States and China, and the China Daily in February once intended to “remind” Australia to follow the UK’s lead in allowing Huawei to participate in 5G and also in “Justice”. in this history.
In the South China Sea, another hot spot, Australia also sent a note to the United Nations in July to deny any of China’s claims.
Controversial picture
The controversial Trieu Lap Kien situation comes after an official report on November 19 accused Australian troops of killing 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners. The Australian Defense Forces (ADF) fired 13 soldiers after the report and recommended that the federal police investigate 36 cases of war crimes.
As such, this is not necessarily an unfounded claim by China. However, the Australian side has also argued that Beijing is deliberately undermining the Australian military’s presence in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Australian opposition leader Anthony Albanese also condemned Zhao’s tweet, claiming it was a profound insult, insisting that Australia’s response was “above all politics”, and that “this is not Australia felt a error about the way we behave “because” even with the most difficult information, we still act in the right way.
