Beijing provokes Australia again with a new doctored image mocking Scott Morrison and a disturbing cartoon of a bloodied kangaroo
China's Communist Party newspaper has aggravated relations with Australia again by publishing a new doctored image mocking Scott Morrison and a disturbing cartoon of a bloodied kangaroo.
The Global Times, a mouthpiece for the communist government, shared the image depicting the Australia prime minister in a war zone, pointing at a child screaming 'apologise'.
The photograph was published on Tuesday alongside an article slamming the Australian prime minister for demanding an apology from an artist whose latest work took aim at Australia's alleged war crimes.
The artwork referred to revelations made last month in the Brereton inquiry, claiming 25 Australian soldiers unlawfully killed 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners.
The doctored image, showing a grinning Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child, was share on Twitter by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an apology and called for the Asian superpower to take down the 'repugnant' fake image.
On Tuesday, Australian embassy officials met with Chinese Foreign Ministry representatives seeking a formal apology over the fake image.
The Global Times has hit out against Australia, saying the nations 'hypocrisy and double standard on human rights and so-called freedom of speech have again made waves in its relations with China'.
#Opinion: A Chinese artist expressed his anger and condemnation against Australian troops’ war crimes with a cartoon. A Chinese diplomat put it on Twitter. They are practicing their freedom of speech. Ridiculously, such moves are intolerant to Australia.https://t.co/xpGYzwwddu
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) December 1, 2020
#Opinion: A Chinese artist expressed his anger and condemnation against Australian troops’ war crimes with a cartoon. A Chinese diplomat put it on Twitter. They are practicing their freedom of speech. Ridiculously, such moves are intolerant to Australia.https://t.co/xpGYzwwddu
The Global Times, a mouthpiece for the communist government, shared the image depicting the Australia prime minister in a war zone, pointing at a child screaming 'apologise'
The new image was created by Fu Yu, the same Chinese artist who created the original doctored piece.
He has spoken out, claiming the fake image was made in an 'effort to protect mankind', Chinese media reported.
In a video shared by Chinese media on microblog site Weibo, Mr Fu urged Mr Morrison to 'make sure his government's military force becomes more disciplined to avoid any similar international tragedy'.
'He should put less effort on pressuring and condemning a fact-based artwork and an artist who is ordinary and from a foreign country,' he said.
'If I have energy tonight, I can make another artwork as my response.'
He also penned an opinion piece for the Global Times, where he told Mr Morrison he needs to 'face reality'.
'It is totally hard to believe that a head of state like Morrison got totally bent out shape about my computer graphics work. I am flabbergasted that he even organised a press conference to fume about it,' he wrote.
'Some overseas citizens claimed it was doctored. I'd like to tell them that their focus should not be on whether or not it is a real picture or an artistic creation. It is an incident embedded in a cartoon.'
Fu Yu - who is also known online as Qilin - created the image in an 'effort to protect mankind'
The Chinese government has doubled down on attacking Australia over war crimes allegations by posting this falsified image on Twitter, while mocking the 'rage and roar' of Prime Minister Scott Morrison
The publication also included a cartoon depicting a bloodied kangaroo in its latest issue.
The latest cartoon was created by artist Chen Xia and featured alongside a piece criticising Mr Morrison for taking aim at Mr Fu.
The publication said Mr Morrison and the Australian government should apologise to the artist 'whose work was groundlessly smeared as a ''false image''.'
It also claimed the Australian government should take full responsibility for the deteriorating relationship with China.
In a video shared by Chinese media on microblog site Weibo, Mr Fu also urged Mr Morrison to 'make sure his Government's military force becomes more disciplined to avoid any similar international tragedy'
'It needs to seriously reassess the damage done its own international optics caused by this double standard outburst regarding 'freedom of speech' and 'human rights''.'
The piece follows an incendiary editorial published on Monday night in Chinese Communist Party-controlled tabloid The Global Times.
Its editor Hu Xijin called the Australian prime minister 'ridiculously arrogant' over his outrage at the photo and told him to 'slap himself in the face'.
'How could this Australian PM be so ridiculously arrogant to pick on Chinese FM spokesperson's condemnation against the murder of innocent people?' the article said.
'Is the murder fake news? Shouldn't that illustrator have made the cartoon? Didn't the Chinese spokesperson have the right to re-post that cartoon to censure Australian troops' murder of innocent Afghan civilians?
'The Australian government's many moves have made Australia more and more like a rural-urban continuum in Western civilisation, where rogues and outlaws run wild.'
Mr Xijin then said Mr Morrison should be the one apologising to the Afghan people for his army's war crimes in a furious tirade in the state-supported newspaper.
'Morrison should kneel down on the ground, slap himself in the face, and kowtow to apologise to Afghans – all these should be done in a live telecast,' he said.
'No matter what harsh words people use on them for the murder, the Australian government should have accepted it.
'How dare they talk back and say they are offended!'
Mr Xijin earlier said on Twitter his country's government had nothing to apologise for.
The Global Times editor Hu Xijin told the Australian prime minister to 'slap himself in the face' and 'to apologise to Afghans' in response to Mr Morrison's demand for an apology
'It is a popular cartoon that condemns the Australian Special Forces' brutal murder of 39 Afghan civilians,' he said.
'On what ground does Morrison feel angry over the use of this cartoon by the spokesperson of the Chinese FM foreign ?
'It's ridiculous and shameless he demanded China to apologise.'
In a further barbed tweet later on Monday evening, Mr Xijin accused Australia of being an ''urban-rural fringe' of Western civilization where gangsters roamed'.
'If the US wants to do something bad, it seeks thugs in such a place. Australian army's killing of Afghan civilians and Scott Morrison's attitude prove Canberra's barbarism,' he said.
According to the Australian, talks between embassy officials finally took place on Tuesday night after the meeting was cancelled on Monday night.
The meeting was organised to seek a formal apology over the fake image.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying meanwhile spoke in a live TV broadcast to condemn the actions of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
'Some Australian soldiers committed serious crimes in Afghanistan,' she said.
'The details are appalling and shocking including men and boys who were shot dead all with their throats slit while blindfolded.
China's foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao posted the fake image on Monday
'There are stories about two 14-year-old boys whose throats were slit and their bodies were thrown into a recruit and recruits were told to kill prisoners in a practice known as blooding.
'These cruel crimes have been condemned by the international community.'
She then said those offended by the Twitter post should redirect their anger towards the atrocities committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
'The Australian side has reacted so strongly to my colleague's Twitter, does that mean that they think the cold blood murder of Afghan innocent civilians is justified while other people's condemnation of such crimes are not justified?' she said.
'Afghan lives matter. The Australian government should bring the culprits to justice and offer an official apology to the Afghan people and make the solemn pledge that they will never repeat such crimes.
'They said the Chinese government should feel ashamed.
'It is Australian soldiers who committed such cruel crimes. Shouldn't the Australian government feel ashamed? Shouldn't they feel ashamed for their soldiers killing innocent Afghan civilians?'
China's foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao posted the fake image with this tweet
Mr Morrison earlier on Monday hit out at the post and said he had asked China and Twitter to remove it.
'The Chinese government should be totally ashamed of this post. It diminishes them in the world's eyes,' he said in a virtual press conference.
'Australia is seeking an apology from the ministry of foreign affairs, from the Chinese government for this outrageous post.
'We are also seeking its removal immediately and have also contacted Twitter to take it down immediately.'
Mr Morrison said Twitter should take down the image because it is false.
'It is a false image, and a terrible slur on our great defence forces and the men and women who've served in that uniform for over 100 years,' he said.
'It is utterly outrageous and cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever.'
Mr Morrison said he has tried to speak to President Xi Jinping and ministers have tried to call their counterparts but the Chinese are not picking up the phone.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is pictured during an official trip to Japan last month. Mr Morrison slammed the 'disgusting and disgraceful' post and said he has asked China and Twitter to remove it
The provocative post is likely to worsen tensions between Beijing and Canberra which have escalated since Mr Morrison infuriated Australia's largest trading partner by calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of coronavirus in April.
China has recently held up Australia's coal and seafood exports and last week put a 200 per cent tariff on Aussie wine despite the two countries signing a free trade deal in 2015.
Earlier this year Beijing slapped an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley, suspended beef imports and told students and tourists not to travel Down Under.
'There are undoubtedly tensions that exist between China and Australia, but this is not how you deal with them,' Mr Morrison said.
A four-year Australian Defence Force inquiry earlier this month reported evidence of 39 murders of civilians or prisoners by 25 Aussies serving in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2016.
The report alleged troops would force new recruits to get their first kills by murdering prisoners in a practice known as 'blooding'.
The Australian government has set up a special investigator to probe the allegations. Troops involved face criminal charges and being stripped of medals.
In a press briefing on Friday, Mr Zhou - who is regularly critical of Australia's foreign policy - said the allegations make Australia hypocritical for raising concerns about China's alleged detention of Muslims in Xinjiang province.
'Australia and some other western countries always portray themselves as human rights defenders and wantonly criticise other countries' human rights conditions,' he said.
'The facts revealed by this report fully exposed the hypocrisy of the ''human rights'' and ''freedom'' these western countries are always chanting.'
China's criticism comes after Russia claimed the allegations had weakened Australia's international standing.
Moscow's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the allegations called into question Australia's commitment to protecting the rules-based world order.
What are the allegations against Australian SAS troops?
A four-year Australian Defence Force inquiry earlier this month reported evidence of 39 murders of civilians or prisoners by 25 Aussies serving in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2016.
These are the allegations contained the report:
Killing villagers
Villagers running away from helicopters were known as 'squirters'. Soldiers would open fire, killing many men and sometimes women and children as they ran away. Soldiers would then come up with an excuse, such as the squirters were running away to fetch weapons, to sanction the massacres.
Clearance operations
After squirters were dealt with, special forces would cordon off a whole village, taking men and boys to guesthouses on the edge of town. There they would be tied up and tortured by soldiers, sometimes for days. When the special forces left, the men and boys would be found dead, either shot in the head or blindfolded with their throats slit.
Cover-ups
In one incident, special forces were driving along a road and saw two 14-year-old boys they decided might be Taliban sympathisers. They stopped, searched the boys and slit their throats. The rest of the troop had to clean up the mess, bagging the bodies and throwing them into a nearby river. Special forces soldiers reportedly committed such unsanctioned killings in order to get a name for themselves.
Thowdowns
Soldiers would carry weapons or equipment such as pistols or radios, ammunition or grenades to place with the bodies of people killed. Photographs would then be taken to make it seem like the target was legitimate.
Blooding
Junior soldiers were required by patrol commanders to shoot a prisoner in order to notch up their first kill. Weapons would be placed with the body to conceal the unlawful killings. Cover stories would be created to deflect scrutiny, reinforced by a code of silence.
(Source: Inspector-General of the ADF Afghanistan Inquiry Report)