An image of a grinning Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife to an Afghanistan child’s throat has sparked a new problem to the already souring relationship between China and Australia. The fact that the image, which appeared to show the soldier slitting the child’s throat, was posted by Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, speaks volumes about the message.
Along with the image which was published on the Twitter platform, Zhao wrote a message – “Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, & call for holding them accountable.” The image and message were sufficient to send a furious Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanding an apology from Beijing.
The image was obviously fake or doctored, based on the Australian flag eclipsed with Afghanistan flag. An unimpressed PM Morrison told reporters – “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.”
Describing the tweet by China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian as “utterly outrageous” and cannot be justified, Morrison said – “It is truly repugnant. It is deeply offensive to every Australian, every Australian who has served in that uniform. The Chinese government should be totally ashamed of this post. It diminishes them in the world’s eyes.”
But China has zero interest in removing the tweet, let alone apologize. Instead, the Chinese government appeared to be glad that the Australian leader was incredibly mad and furious. The tweet could be bait deliberately unleashed to provoke Morrison, who swallows the hook, line and sinker. The intention was to magnify Australian war crimes and expose the country’s hypocrisy on human rights.
Defending her colleague, Hua Chunying, another foreign ministry spokesperson, said – “Some Australian soldiers committed serious crimes in Afghanistan. There are stories about two 14-year-old boys whose throats were slit while blindfolded and their bodies were thrown into a recruit and recruits were told to kill prisoners in a practise known as blooding.”
She said Canberra’s anger was misplaced – “What Australia should do is to reflect deeply, bring the perpetrators to justice, make a formal apology to the Afghan people, and solemnly promise to the international community that they will never commit such terrible crimes again. The Australian side has reacted so strongly to my colleague’s Twitter.”
Ms Hua continued her lecture – “Does that mean they think the cold blooded murder of Afghan innocent civilians is justified while other people’s condemnation of such crimes are not justified? Afghan lives matter. They said that the Chinese government should feel ashamed. It is Australian soldiers who committed such cruel crimes. Shouldn’t the Australian government feel ashamed?”
The Global Times, a mouthpiece of Beijing, mocked Morrison for losing his diplomatic manners – even ridiculing the Australian government of being rude and arrogant. It’s badass editor-in-chief Hu Xinjin said Prime Minister Morrison can forget about an apology and even accused Australia of “barbarism”. He said Australia is “urban-rural fringe” of Western civilisation where gangsters roamed.
While the image was doctored, the story behind the illustration of the image, however, is real. The artist behind the image, Wuheqilin, said his illustration was inspired by the findings of an Australian war crimes inquiry published last month. Wuheqilin said – “Although the image is not a factual photo, it was created on the basis of facts and expressed as a metaphor.”
On Nov 19, a four-year investigation by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force found that Australia’s Special Forces killed 39 unarmed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan. The 465-page inquiry results, which can be read from this link, found credible evidence that at least 19 Australian soldiers had carried out executions in 23 incidents from 2005 to 2016.
Apparently, in different Special Operations Task Group rotations, junior soldiers were required by their patrol commanders to shoot a prisoner in order to achieve the soldier’s first kill, in a practice that was known as “blooding”. Under a code of silence, “Throwdowns” would be placed with the body, and a “cover story” was created for the purposes of operational reporting and to deflect scrutiny.
In her January 2016 report, Dr Crompvoets discovered through interviews that in “Clearance Operations”, Special Forces would cordon off a whole village before men and boys are tied up and tortured for days. When the Australian Special Forces left, the men and boys would be found dead – shot in the head or blindfolded and with throats slit, revealed the damning inquiry report.
In a specific “cover-up” incident where members from the “SASR” (Special Air Service Regiment) were driving along a road and saw two 14-year-old boys whom they decided might be Taliban sympathisers, they stopped and searched the boys before slitting their throats. The rest of the troop then had to “clean up the mess”, which involved bagging the bodies and throwing them into a nearby river.
When Australian Defence Minister Linda Reynolds received the horror investigation report in November, she said – “It made me feel physically ill. It was a very, very distressing read. It certainly does not represent the service of the majority of men and women who serve our nation with such great distinction. It is distressing for everybody who had or still does wear the uniform.”
And as a result of the horrific Afghan war crimes report, up to 3,000 Australian soldiers who served with the Special Forces in Afghanistan reportedly could lose awards – a move Defence Force Chief Angus Campbell conceded would be a “hard blow”. Already, a “Meritorious Unit Citation” awarded to the Special Operations Task Group for “sustained and outstanding service” has been revoked.
Interestingly, in the executive summary of the Afghanistan inquiry report, it admitted that from the Boer War through to the Vietnam War, some Australian service members may have committed war crimes – killing of detainees or prisoners. The report also admitted that Australian authorities have been less proactive in dealing with reports or allegations of war crimes by Australian personnel.
The four-year inquiry was conducted by New South Wales State Judge Paul Brereton and has examined more than 20,000 documents and 25,000 images, as well as interviewed 423 witnesses under oath. Last month, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani revealed that Morrison had called to express “his deepest sorrow over the misconduct by some Australian troops” in his country.
In the same breath, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne had written to her Afghan counterpart and “extended apologies for the misconduct identified by the inquiry”. In fact, General Campbell was so horrified over details revealed in the Brereton Report that he will have his own Distinguished Service Cross reviewed to accept responsibility.
Therefore, Morrison’s demand for an apology from Beijing does not hold water at all. China was just expressing facts based on the 465-page Brereton Report of 39 murders by Australian Special Forces, General Campbell’s remarks, the prospect of 3,000 Australian soldiers to be stripped of their accolades and Morrison administration’s apology to the Afghanistan government.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, of course, was humiliated that under his leadership – Australia – a supposedly champion of human rights, freedom and democracy was being mocked, ridiculed and lectured by a communist country. Clearly, China understood that a picture is worth a thousand words, hence, the deliberate use of a mischievous image to embarrass Morrison.
China previously said its people were hurt when Australia exploited platforms like the Human Rights Council to interfere in its internal affairs, especially in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan. As Western criticism has increased over China’s re-education campaign targeting Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang province, Beijing has pointed to the human and economic toll of the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But the bilateral relationship between China and Australia went toxic in April this year when Prime Minister Scott Morrison started his campaign, urging top allies France, Germany and New Zealand to pressure China to give the foreign countries the “weapons inspector-like” powers to investigate the outbreaks of Coronavirus. Beijing believed the inquiry call is part of US-led propaganda against China.
In retaliation, China sharply ramps up trade conflict with Australia – imposing steep tariffs and other restrictions or boycott on a number of Australian exports. Products like wheat, barley, sugar, red wine, beef, timber, wool, cotton, sugar, lobster, iron ore, copper ores and even education and tourism have suffered as Morrison defiantly continues to poke the panda.
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- China Punish Australia Again – Recession-Hit Aussie Saw Its A$2 Billion Cotton Industry Targeted
- Australia Upset! – China Now Uses “Asian Discrimination” To Target Aussie’s A$38 Billion Education Industry
- Coronavirus Inquiry Backfired On Aussie – China Slaps Tariffs, Warns It Has The Power To Hurt Australia Economy
- Lawsuits For Trillions Of Dollars Against China Over Spread Of Coronavirus – Here’s Why It’s A Waste Of Time
- IMF – The “Great Lockdown” Is Set To Triggers The World’s Worst Recession Since The 1929 Great Depression
- 3 Coronavirus Variants Discovered – Surprisingly, “Type-A” Found In Americans, Wuhan’s Type-B And Type-C In Europe
- Arabs Conspiracy Theories – Coronavirus Is The U.S. & Israel Biological Warfare To Cripple China’s Economy & Reputation
- National Security Threat – China’s Huawei & ZTE “5G Technology” Banned In Australia
- Corruption In Australia? – Huawei The Biggest Sponsor Of Australian Politicians
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December 1st, 2020 by financetwitter
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Comments
LOL !!! China lashes back at Australia but what about China actions towards Tibet . Many Tibetans died during the invasion of Tibet by china. Now China even build their village in Bhutan India border trying to claim the Himalaya. Looks like the kettle is calling the pot black.
I’ll drink a toast to Beijing shafting Australia right in the mug! Not with Australian wine, of course.
Absolutely nothing wrong with China tripping Australia in its failed attempt to whitewash inquiry of its filthy history of murder of the innocent in Afghanistan, even kids at that!
Australia should stand tall, own up to its atrocities, the country has a long history of inglorious adventures in countries with brown and othe off-white folks in the running dingo service of the US. We can recall war with the Chinese and Koreans, Malayans, Borneans, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Iraqis, and Afghans.
Just why the Australians need go to foreign parts to torture and murder requires a look at its history. The nasty racist and criminal behaviour began with the white uncles colonising the damn natives. Native Australians were murdered at will in genocidal sprees, John Pilger wrote of native children being buried up to their necks so that the white uncles could have competitions to see who could kick the heads farthest. The “Abos” remain targets for racial and physical abuse to this day, at one time, there was a popular sport called “Abo-bashing” which saw the bumis rounded up to be beaten up for entertainment.
With immigrants coming later, the white uncles turn their attention to the Chinese, whose Wells the uncles poisoned. Of course, the Chinese were murdered by other means too. Other immigrants like Italians, Greeks were targeted, though not being too much of the wrong colour, they weren’t usually killed. Others like Iranians, Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis were not spared from racist abuse and physical violence.
The Chinese today aren’t exactly like the submissive wonders of yesterday, China is poking white supremacy in the eyes. And the white doods with the old convicts’ mentality don’t like that, they are whining and bitching and distracting from the fact that Australia is a racist country with a filthy violent history, no one is really unhappy China is giving it good to those piles of racist barbarians.
So, it’s no skin off me nose, those uncivilised convict dingos are getting it downright great from the Chinese. I hope the whole thing of China-bashing and Yank ass-smooching go out of hand, China sanctions everything there is Australia produces, Australia whines hysterically. Jiayou, I say!
All others are free to drink Australian wine, toast them war criminals!
Please correct your statement. When you categorized the image as fake or doctored, indirectly you’re saying China pushing fake news. The narrative which Western medias are pushing.
The image should be view as political satire. If Charlie Hebbo cartoons are about freedom of expression then why such an outcry on a picture that base on proven fact?
Successful Australian gomens looked down on Malaysia and Malaysians. Not just one or two of their PMs used to mock Mahathir, treated him as they would any dark coloured “monkey” as the old white colonials would “lesser” creatures.
As Mahathir loves to posture on the world stage – and always get nowhere and worse than no respect short of being spat on, now is the time to give a couple of lectures, sermonise and pontificate to them convicts. That would get up the nose of the convict dingo running dogs of the Yanks – and please the Chinese – and possibly even the brown world.
If the Chinese are pleased, they might even start noticing Mahathir – and stop spitting on him.
“but what about China actions towards Tibet”
Tibetans are better treated in China than the “non-Bumis” (and Rohingyas) are treated in Malaysia.
The Uyghurs are also better treated, China never tells them they are not Chinese and are “pendatangs”. The only Muslims China (and other Muslims) doesn’t like and come down heavily on are those fcuking Salafi/Wahahabi ter rorists.
What blooming cotton-pickin’ ignorance.
LOL..!
It’s funny (and sad) that Australia cannot take criticism from China after it said so many bad things about China.
Just mind your own business and the world will be a more peaceful place.