Australian PM slams Chinese official's 'repugnant' tweet

The photo is disgusting.

But the Australian soldier laughing while he holds a knife to another human's throat is particularly disturbing.

Shame on Australia.

You have heard of a program called PhotoShop, havent you? The image is not a photo, it is a PRC creation.

Shame on China - and those who fall for their cheap stunts.

@ burning

you do know that the photo has been photoshopped right !?

or do you just believe everything that China puts out there ?

Australian government should take back all property that is owned by Chinese companies in Australia.

They should also acknowledge that Taiwan is an Independent country & will support them militarily if necessary.

Australia could re-re-re-play scenes from Tiananmen of Chinese tanks running over Chinese citizens, of Chinese soldiers shooting citizens, of Chinese citizens being tortured during Mao's decades long reign of terror, and if available (what are the CCP hiding?) residents of 'western' China being jailed and tortured.

And NOT have to photo-shop them.

A) Just label the image as FAKE in huge letters going across it. Freedom of speech should be allowed, even if untrue, but labeling it as "FAKE" would drastically change the result.

B) Show 1 hour news shows about Chinese atrocities nightly on ABC for the next month. Don't worry, there are plenty so ABC won't run out.

A reverse Streisand effect.

BTW, is twitter allowed in China yet? Didn't think so. There is little reason for China to worry about this hypocracy from returning to them at home. Seems some counter-intellegence teams could create new accounts and post the "FAKE" image into Chinese social media platforms, randomly changing a few pixels and sizes and text with perhaps 100,000 new accounts created daily. A little information warfare inside China could be fun.

Last week, the Australian army moved to discharge 13 soldiers for their role in the alleged atrocities and prosecutions are expected.

Let's hope that Australia exposes these wrongdoings and punishes those responsible!

@kurisupisu

How about staying on topic !.

this article is about the Chinese government doctoring phots & putting them out in the public domain - the ultimate fake news.

If a private citizen did this, they’d end up in court for libel.

Unless of course you are supporting China’s actions

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao sparked the outrage when he posted a staged image of a man dressed as an Australian soldier holding a bloody knife to an Afghan child's throat.

Pot, kettle, black!!!

So, the Australian position echoes the American position (and Trump's position in regards to Americans) of 'we can criticize and demand you accept our criticisms in whatever form they take, but you are not allowed to criticize US!'

But here's the thing, China is now the biggest economy in the world, at the center of the biggest trade network in the world, so it can act as the 'exceptional nation' exempt from criticism or constrained by international law.

It's going to take a while, but I'm sure that Australia will adapt, and treat the notion of being publicly outraged at China as being as unthinkable as it now regards the notion of being publicly outraged at America. (As will Japan, and Europe, and Africa...)

I believe this hostile attitude from China will serve as the last straw that breaks the camel's back in the China–Australia fragile relation since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.

I hope that it would be repugnant enough to reduce Australia's economic reliance on China and unite Australia's both sides of politics to bravely defend their national interests against China's aggressive expansion in the Southeast Asia Sea.

@ richard

please give examples of Australia criticising China (prior to this current spat)

@goodluck

that spiel straight out of the red communist handbook is it ?

Both sides: Knock it off!

@elephant

so what exactly should Australia knock off ?

Being bullied by China ?

Being pressured by China ?

Being extorted by China?

But here's the thing, China is now the biggest economy in the world

No, that is not true. For 2019, the nominal US GDP was $20.8 trillion while that of China was $14.9 trillion. China's and America's demographics are such that the chance of China eclipsing the US in terms of GDP are negligible. America's population is younger than China's and due to immigration isn't likely to suffer the rapid population decline and population aging that China faces in the near future.

If the US was smart it would organize among the nations of the EU, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and have all these nations call their Ambassadors to China home for "consultations" while Australia expels the Chinese Ambassador to Australia as "persona non grata". If the US really wanted to exert some leadership they would likewise expel the Chinese Ambassador to the US. Make it clear to China that their "wolf warrior", cough cough, "diplomacy" is not welcome. This incident is in fact a great first opportunity for the West to push back against the Chinese.

It's going to take a while, but I'm sure that Australia will adapt, and treat the notion of being publicly outraged at China as being as unthinkable as it now regards the notion of being publicly outraged at America. (As will Japan, and Europe, and Africa...)

Sigh. More nonsense. When has it ever been unthinkable to be outraged at something the US did or didn't do? Never. Everywhere I have gone in the world there are people angry at Americans for something. Everywhere. I can't think of a country except maybe Papua New Guinea and Canada where I haven't run into some sort of anti-American sentiment. Australia was perhaps the worst I have encountered outside of France. I got backed into corners several times during my year stay in Australia and told what a horrible country the US was by Aussies.