China refuses to apologise over 'repugnant' tweet targeting Aussie soldiers

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Nadine Carroll - Yahoo News Australia




WARNING - DISTURBING CONTENT: A Chinese official has defended the actions of her colleague who tweeted a doctored image of an Australian soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child and responded to the fake image Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described as “offensive” and “outrageous” and “deplorable”.

In the first government public response since Mr Morrison demanded an apology over the fake image, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying stood firm and delivered a powerful response broadcast on ABC News.

“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.”

‘Cold blood murder of innocent civilians’

Ms Chunying said she interpreted Australia’s response to the image as a justification of the “cold blood murder of innocent civilians” and called on the Australian government to officially apologise to the Afghan people.

“These cruel crimes have been condemned by the international community. 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?

“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.”


The fake image shows an Australian soldier slitting the throat of a child. Source: Zhao Lijian/ Twitter

‘Deeply offensive to every Australian’

The chilling image was shared by China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on his Twitter account and is Beijing’s latest move in their condemnation of the alleged killing of 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners by Australian special force soldiers detailed in the Brereton report released earlier this month.

Prime Minister Morrison labelled the picture “truly repugnant” and “deeply offensive to every Australian [and] every Australian that's served in that uniform".

“It is utterly outrageous and it cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever,” he told reporters.

“The Chinese government should be totally ashamed of this post. It diminishes them in the world's eyes.”

Mr Morrison said Australia is seeking an apology from China’s foreign ministry and has asked Twitter to remove the post.

PM’s apology request labelled ‘ridiculous and shameless’

Hours later Chinese Government appointed Editor-in-Chief of the state-run Global Times responded to Mr Morrison’s request for an apology referring to the “brutal murder”.

“It is a popular cartoon that condemns the Australian Special Forces’s brutal murder of 39 Afghan civilians. On what ground does Morrison feel angry over the use of this cartoon by the spokesperson of Chinese FM? It’s ridiculous and shameless that he demanded China to apologise,” he tweeted.

Mr Morrison said has attempted to reach out to China but has been unsuccessful and is standing firm behind a request for an apology.

“I want to make a couple of points about this. 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.

“It is a false image and a terrible slur on our great defence forces and the men and women who have served in that uniform for over 100 years,” Mr Morrison told reporters.

Twitter did not remove the image, but has censored it by hiding the image behind the warning: “The following media includes potentially sensitive content”.

[FBD]

something allegedly happened, so its ok for us to reenact what we want everyone to think happened and present it to everyone as if that's what happened

so in other words, pretty much like any other pack of chinese lies, like Biden won, etc

[lost in melb.]

We're having a bit of trouble with China of late

[FBD]

We're having a bit of trouble with China of late

that's the kind of stuff that happens when china owns your government

[lost in melb.]

that's the kind of stuff that happens when china owns your government

Read the article

[DemonGeminiX]

We're having a bit of trouble with China of late

Maybe y'all should learn to speak Chinese?

[lost in melb.]

Maybe y'all should learn to speak Chinese?

Who knows what they want. I think the Chinese are just angry being the slapheads for all those centuries. They probably didn't like our prime minister visiting Japan either

[Griffin]

You should be more concerned with Twitter censoring conservatives mentioning antifa riots but leave this shit up.

[lost in melb.]

You should be more concerned with Twitter censoring conservatives mentioning antifa riots but leave this shit up.

I think they censored it but they didn't remove it. Wouldn't want to hurt those Chinese feelings

[FBD]

Who knows what they want. I think the Chinese are just angry being the slapheads for all those centuries. They probably didn't like our prime minister visiting Japan either

have you heard the term "full spectrum domination" before?

[lost in melb.]

have you heard the term "full spectrum domination" before?

Is there any topic with which one can have a normal conversation with you?

[FBD]

Is there any topic with which one can have a normal conversation with you?

find me a topic that doesnt have a rotten globalist underbelly what the chinese were doing to aus was on purpose

[FBD]

Sadly I think what you are saying is true.... The PC brigade are becoming far too influential.

They're making you believe allllll kiiiiinds of things that are not true

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Tom Flanagan, News Reporter - Yahoo News Australia




The Chinese artist behind the fake image depicting an Australian soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child has warned he’ll create another image following Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s calls for an apology.

Wuheqilin, a renowned ‘wolf warrior’ style artist with more than 600,000 followers on Twitter-like site Weibo, has responded to the uproar in the wake of his picture being shared by China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zho Lijian on Monday.

The image was Beijing’s latest attack on Canberra over the findings of the Brereton report which alleges Australian special force soldiers played a role in the unlawful killings of 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners.

In a video shared on Weibo account Guan Video, Wuheqilin provided an update from Beijing airport, delivering a message to Mr Morrison.

“I noticed that I’ve got some hate online from an Australian man,” he tells the camera.

“I get scolded by this Morrison and he demands my apology. I feel sympathetic for him and fully understand Mr Morrison’s mood right now but I would still advise Mr Morrison to face reality and put his efforts towards domestic affairs.”

The artist urged Mr Morrison should be doing everything he could to prevent such “tragedies” from happening again.

At the end of his video he criticised the prime minister for targeting him and said there could be further illustrations to come.

“If I’m not too tired tonight maybe I’ll make another drawing,” he said.

What does the term ‘wolf warrior’ mean?

The term ‘wolf warrior’ used for Wuheqilin and similar artists derives from the Communist Party of China’s growing tendency to use ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’.

The tactic sees officials proactively condemning any criticism of China in an aggressive manner, often on social media.

The name ‘wolf warrior’ comes from two Chinese blockbuster action films of the same name, the first released in 2015 and features Rambo-like protagonists defending the interests of China across the globe.

Links to Beijing’s new approach to the film quickly followed, with Mr Zhao a renowned user of ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’.

Artist praises Chinese official for sharing image

Wuheqilin shared a screenshot of Mr Zhao’s tweet to his Weibo page praising the Chinese official. He also shared a screenshot of multiple Australian media reports covering the tweet.

The patriotic artist rose to online fame in 2020 for a series of political artworks illustrating both national and international matters including George Floyd’s death and the subsequent Black Lives Matter movement, and the protests in Hong Kong that oppose China’s communist rule.

Mr Zhao’s tweet was described as “truly repugnant” by Mr Morrison who demanded China apologise for the tweet from the government-linked account.

Late on Monday following Mr Morrison’s robust comments, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying doubled down on Mr Zhao’s post and refused to apologise and instead called for remorse from Australia.

“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,” she told reporters.

The Global Times, the Communist Party of China’s English-language mouthpiece, has previously shared Wuheqilin’s work on their social accounts.

In June they interviewed Wuheqilin, noting he had been dubbed the ‘The Wolf Warrior artist’ by Chinese social media users.

He told the publication he was motivated to create nationalistic art after “western forces” used Hong Kong as a “good chance to bash China”.

“The fierce hostility from the outside world made me furious,” he said.

"What's unwise about the Western world is that their attack would only make Chinese people more united.”

[FBD]

>chinese dont care if its true or not
its almost like we're witnessing a pattern here