Spokesperson of the Chinese Communist government, Lijian Zhao, posted a doctored image on Twitter attacking Australia. He wrote “Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, & call for holding them accountable.”
The image depicts a smiling Australian soldier slicing the throat of a child holding a goat, with the subtitle “Don’t be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace!” There is an Australian flag and an Afghanistan flag in the background.
Response from Australia
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the image ‘repugnant’ and demanded that China apologise for posting it. “Australia is seeking an apology from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from the Chinese government, for this outrageous post”, said by Mr Scott Morrison.
Mr Morrison said the images were “utterly outrageous” and “deeply offensive for every Australian”.
China-Australia collisions
This gross image is possibly a retaliation to Australia’s Xinjiang Project, which monitors, analyses and reports the human right crisis in Xinjiang China, conducted by ASPI. An hour after Zhao tweeted the image, he retweeted another Spokesperson Hua Chunying’s tweet about ‘debunking’ ASPI’s studies on Xijiang’s detention centers.
Over the past two decades, Australia has relied on the Chinese market for its economy despite the different values of the two nations. Every time Australia tries to speak for the value it holds, it faces instant retaliation from the powerful regime.
- Australia was the first country globally that banned Huawei, which is a division of the People’s Liberation Army, for national security.
- Australia was one of few countries that voiced support an independent inquiry into the origin of the CCP virus (aka Covid-19 virus), so that it got retaliation instantly for its barley and beef exportation to China.
- Recently, China slapped tariffs of up to 200 per cent on Australian wine in a direct breech of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and China’s commitments through the World Trade Organisation.
Twitter did not fact-check this image
PM Scott Morrison revealed he has also demanded Twitter remove the violent, fake image. “We are also seeking its removal immediately and have also contacted Twitter to take it down immediately,” as he told reporters.
To date, Twitter has not done anything to this violent and misleading image. Ironically, the post is neither deleted nor ‘fact checked’, the same way that Twitter has imposed the notorious blue check marks on tweets by President Trump or anyone on voter frauds in the 2020 Election.
This confirms that the CCP propaganda engines are fully functioning on the Twitter platform.
Author: River|Himalaya Scholar
Editor: XO酱
Well written, River. Australia is a standout against the CCP bully in the western front.