China's Foreign Ministry has said Australia should be ashamed of its war crimes in Afghanistan after Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an apology over an inflammatory social media post from an official Chinese account, By Diramakini Reporter.
Twitter was on Monday scrambling to assess whether a doctored image shared by a deputy director in China's Foreign Ministry had violated its terms of service after Mr Morrison called a press conference to demand the post be taken down.
The image purported to show a special forces soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child with its head wrapped in an Australian flag as it cradled a lamb.
More than four hours after Mr Morrison's request for the image to be taken down, the social media giant had yet to respond. It has censored multiple replies to the image for violating its Twitter rules but not the original post itself.
Twitter has not responded to requests for comment. The Morrison government is preparing to escalate its response to the company's San Francisco headquarters on Tuesday if its demands are not met.
The post came three days after China hit Australia’s $45 billion wine industry with a tariff of more than 200 per cent, in a major escalation of Beijing's trade strikes on billions of dollars worth of Australian exports.
In his strongest comments on any Chinese government action since he became Prime Minister, a visibly angry Mr Morrison said the Chinese government should be "totally ashamed of the post", accused the Communist Party of being immature and said he hoped this "awful event may lead to a reset" in the relationship.
"It diminishes them in the world's eyes," he said. "It is an absolutely outrageous and disgusting slur. Australia is seeking an apology from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we are seeking it be removed from Twitter."
In a swipe at Australia's human rights record after the release of the Brereton inquiry report into alleged war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman and information department deputy director Zhao Lijian called for Australia to be held accountable.
"These reports point to the hypocrisy of some Western countries who like to consider themselves as guardians of human rights and freedom," Mr Zhao said last week. The comments were later supported and repeated by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
China's Foreign Ministry on Monday evening fired back at Mr Morrison, claiming Australia should be "ashamed" of its record in Afghanistan.
The image purported to show a special forces soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child with its head wrapped in an Australian flag as it cradled a lamb.
More than four hours after Mr Morrison's request for the image to be taken down, the social media giant had yet to respond. It has censored multiple replies to the image for violating its Twitter rules but not the original post itself.
Twitter has not responded to requests for comment. The Morrison government is preparing to escalate its response to the company's San Francisco headquarters on Tuesday if its demands are not met.
The post came three days after China hit Australia’s $45 billion wine industry with a tariff of more than 200 per cent, in a major escalation of Beijing's trade strikes on billions of dollars worth of Australian exports.
In his strongest comments on any Chinese government action since he became Prime Minister, a visibly angry Mr Morrison said the Chinese government should be "totally ashamed of the post", accused the Communist Party of being immature and said he hoped this "awful event may lead to a reset" in the relationship.
"It diminishes them in the world's eyes," he said. "It is an absolutely outrageous and disgusting slur. Australia is seeking an apology from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we are seeking it be removed from Twitter."
In a swipe at Australia's human rights record after the release of the Brereton inquiry report into alleged war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman and information department deputy director Zhao Lijian called for Australia to be held accountable.
"These reports point to the hypocrisy of some Western countries who like to consider themselves as guardians of human rights and freedom," Mr Zhao said last week. The comments were later supported and repeated by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
China's Foreign Ministry on Monday evening fired back at Mr Morrison, claiming Australia should be "ashamed" of its record in Afghanistan.
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