china is accusing australia of
attempting to stoke domestic
nationalism in a row over australia's
response to a tweet from the chinese
government an official shared this
doctored image
we've blurred some of it but it shows a
man in an australian military uniform
holding a knife to an afghan child's
neck
the image is fake but the chinese goal
which has been achieved was to highlight
a damning report last month
into alleged australian war crimes in
afghanistan and australia's prime
minister scott morrison
may want an apology for the tweet but so
far he hasn't got one
instead here's a statement from the
chinese embassy in australia
saying it's our advice that the
australian side face up to the crimes
committed by australian soldiers in
afghanistan
hold those perpetrators accountable and
bring justice to the victims
right but australia has already
appointed a special investigator to
gather evidence which could lead to
criminal charges
and the head of the australian military
has issued an apology
he did so when the report came out
here's some of it
these findings allege the most serious
breaches
of military conduct and professional
values such alleged behaviour profoundly
disrespected the trust placed in us
by the afghan people none of that
stopping a range of chinese state media
twitter accounts
here's stephen jet check from abc news
australia
highlighting this saying i have lost
count of the number of chinese state
media editorials
lambasting australia over the last 48
hours and they're not flagging yet
well in a bid to counter those kind of
messages australia's prime minister
scott morrison posted on the chinese
social media platform wechat
writing australia's ability to deal with
issues in a transparent and honest way
is a strength of this country and one
that recognizes all those who
serve it while the artist who made the
original doctored image
has responded to scott morrison's
outrage
but i would still advise mr morrison to
face reality
and put his efforts into domestic
affairs
and the artist has now released this
image showing scott morrison to the
right of frame covering a dead body
while pointing a finger
at a ch at the chinese cartoonist and we
see the press
focusing on the cartoonist too but that
argument doesn't quite add up the
world's press
covered the release of the report on
afghanistan in huge detail
here's the new york times with the
headline bloodlust and demigods behind
an australian forces slaughter of
helpless afghans
cnn also went with a culture of
bloodlust
it was also reported by the indian
express and germany's deutsche weller
and many
many other outlets seen in isolation
this whole row appears to have escalated
very quickly but
this is actually part of something far
bigger through 2020 relations have
worsened not least because australia
called for an international inquiry into
how
covert 19 began in china and the chinese
have been imposing hefty tariffs on
australian exports
including wine as the chinese are well
aware that stings
china is the biggest destination for
australian wine and while the state of
the australian wine industry
may not seem like a matter of major
international importance
this is all about the power balance
between china and the west
for some it's a cause of concern a group
of 200 mps from 19 countries have
launched a campaign
to convince people to buy australian
wine in december as an act of solidarity
here's a clip of a video that it's
released cheers
and also say no bullying from china
ah that's a fine australian wine
the group also says when china threatens
australia
it threatens us all and as my colleague
nick bryant puts it if you want an
illustration of how the global balance
of power has shifted in 2020 while the
u.s has been in a state of such
dysfunction
look at how china is flexing its muscles
with australia
and if this is about the west as much as
about china then
so far president trump has said nothing
about this realm
for joe biden how to handle a more
assertive chinese foreign policy is one
of the many decisions
that awaits him