Australian PM’s anger at China’s fake army tweet
A FAKE image of an Australian soldier murdering a child has been branded ‘truly repugnant’ by the country’s prime minister Scott Morrison after it was tweeted by a Chinese official.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, shared the mock-up of a grinning serviceman holding a bloodied knife to the throat of a youngster, who is clutching a lamb.
The official wrote: ‘Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, & call for holding them accountable.’
It was a reference to a report by Australia’s military earlier this month which found evidence its SAS troops had unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and other civilians.
Mr Morrison said he was seeking an apology from the Chinese government, adding the tweet was ‘deeply offensive to every Australian, every Australian who has served in that uniform’.
‘The Chinese government should be totally ashamed of this post,’ he said.
‘It diminishes them in the world’s eyes.’ The Australian government has asked Twitter to remove the post.
Chinese diplomats have a strong presence on the platform, despite the block on ordinary citizens accessing US-based social media.
Mr Zhao was criticised by the US in March after tweeting a conspiracy theory that US soldiers may have brought Covid to China.
A rift between Australia and China has been growing this year since Canberra called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the pandemic.