Opinion | Australian PM’s bid to stir nationalism over Twitter image succeeds – but in China
- Canberra has demanded that Beijing apologise over an illustration retweeted by its foreign ministry spokesperson mocking Australia’s war crimes in Afghanistan
- The feud could reflect Australia’s uneasiness that China – long seen as a human rights violator – is now passing the same judgment on its traditional accusers
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s demand for Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian to apologise over a tweet – that Twitter itself did not think needed to be removed – has achieved the opposite of what he intended.
The post in question – an illustration showing an Australian soldier holding a knife to a child’s throat, created in reference to a recent report that found elite forces had committed war crimes in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016 – was retweeted by Zhao on Monday, sparking condemnation by Canberra and its allies.
But Morrison’s sharp response galvanised nationalistic sentiment among Chinese netizens, with Zhao praised and the illustrator, who goes by the pseudonym Wuheqilin, becoming an overnight sensation.
The fact is that Zhao – known for a “wolf warrior” style of diplomacy that has been increasingly used by many Chinese officials – did not design or doctor the image.
He merely shared an artist’s opinion of the war crimes debacle – a work that could best be described as a digitally manipulated satirical propaganda piece meant for a domestic audience.