Here’s the tweet by China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on 30 November that
outraged Australia.
“Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers.
We strongly condemn such acts, & call for holding them accountable”.
The image shows a doctored image of a smiling Australian soldier doing something terrible
to an Afghani child holding a lamb standing over an Australian flag.
The caption reads, “Don’t be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace!”.
Cue outrage.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described the image as “repugnant”
and demanded the Chinese government apologise for posting it.
Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong joined the chorus of condemnation calling
the post “gratuitous, inflammatory and deeply offensive”, and “not the behaviour of
a responsible, mature international power”.
Of course, this all comes after the release of the Brereton Report earlier this month
which found evidence of 39 murders of civilians and prisoners by (or at the instruction of)
members of the Australian special forces between 2005 and 2016, which were subsequently covered
up by ADF personnel.
Okay, I’d just like to play devil’s advocate for one moment.
We’ve already heard from half of Australia how disgusting and repugnant this image is,
but the first thing I’d like to say is that this is an obviously fake image.
Nobody’s claiming that it is real.
It’s a work of fiction.
It was created by an artist.
I don’t think Australia is outraged because China are unfairly passing off a fake image
as a real image.
It’s obviously fake and nobody’s claiming otherwise.
If China released a fake image of kangaroos jumping down Sydney streets, I don’t think
anybody would be too upset.
The issue isn’t with the fakeness of the image.
The issue is with the message that it sends — that Australian soldiers are murderers
of innocent civilians.
That really struck a nerve with the Australian Government.
The caption, “Don’t be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace!” is pointing
out Australia’s hypocrisy.
Obviously, the large majority of men and women in Australia’s Defences Forces are not cold-blooded
murderers, but unfortunately, a small element of them are, which is why the Brereton Report
was conducted.
Some evil people within the Australian Defence Force (and potentially elsewhere)
tried to cover up Australia’s recent dark past.
These were not accidents of battle.
These were out-and-out war crimes.
It was planned, calculated murder.
To be fair, it’s deserving of international scorn.
Of course countries like China are going to point this out in a very public forum!
China love the idea of Australia, who is always pointing out China’s human rights violations
and taking the moral high ground, becoming the abusers themselves.
It delights the Chinese regime that the holier-than-thou Australians are just as morally bankrupt as
the very countries they claim to detest.
Why?
Because all of this can be used as propaganda.
And this is all this is.
It’s a piece of propaganda.
It’s here to antagonise Australia.
It’s here to show Chinese citizens just how hypocritical Australians are.
It’s there to appease the Chinese masses.
China have never claimed to be a bastion of human rights and political freedom, but Australia
has.
The Chinese have always replied to human rights violations in the same way.
They tell other countries not to interfere in Chinese internal affairs.
Yes, there are tonnes of human rights abuses in China that Australia are always quick to
point out, but the Chinese government aren’t proclaiming that they are morally superior.
This photo is an obvious troll.
The goal of a troll is to bait you — to antagonise you — and the Australian Government
have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.
They have played right into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party by getting upset and
demanding an apology.
But I think we all know the result.
China will never apologise.
That would be a sign of weakness.
If anything, they’ll double down in attacking Australia’s self-proclaimed moral superiority.
It’s in their best interests to show the Chinese citizenry that Australia is just as
broken as everywhere else.
This propaganda is simply there to show the Chinese people that Australian democracy is
a sham.
The best thing Australia can do is ignore the trolls.
This image is fake.
It’s not worthy of response by the government.
By reacting to it, they’re showing their own insecurities.
But what isn’t fake, is what some members of our Special Forces did in Afghanistan.
Their crimes are not excusable.
Instead of the Australian Government focusing on fake images, they should instead be focusing
on punishing those that have brought shame to our military.
If soldiers have purposely killed civilians and then tried to cover it up, they should
be punished.
Losing their jobs is not enough.
Life imprisonment is probably more fitting.
If enough of these murderous cowboys are imprisoned, then new recruits will quickly learn that
this kind of behaviour isn’t accepted in the Australian Defence Force.
This image is a distraction.
The Australian Government’s reaction to it is a distraction.
But this is real.
If your body has a cancerous growth, you have it cut out.