Australia called on China to apologize for the fake Twitter photo posted on the representative’s page Foreign Ministry PRC Zhao Lijian reports ABC News.
We are talking about the publication of a photograph, which allegedly depicts an Australian soldier holding a knife at the throat of a child. The caption on the picture reads: “Don’t worry, we come in peace!” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an apology: he said that the photo was fake and called for it to be removed.
“This is highly outrageous and cannot be justified in any way. The Chinese government should be ashamed of this post,” Morrison said. He added that Australia-China relations are indeed tense, but such publications “will not solve the problems” between the countries.
ABC News recalls that these events unfold against the background of the investigation of war crimes that Australians committed during the war in Afghanistan. In the report of the representative published in November Ministry of Defense Major General of Justice Paul Brereton (Paul Brereton) it is noted that during from 2009 to 2013, patrol commanders ordered recruits to kill Afghans so that they would be baptized in blood. The victims were prisoners of war, peasants and civilians.
After the publication of the report, nine Australian soldiers committed suicide . The stress of the investigation, which uncovered evidence of 39 killings by Australian intelligence agencies, is believed to have played a role in some of these suicides.