Chinese official says Australian PM overreacted to tweet

On Monday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian posted a digitally fabricated image on Twitter of a grinning Australian soldier holding a bloody knife to the throat of a veiled child.

Last month Beijing had blocked Australian exports including coal and seafood before slapping a 212 per cent tariff on Aussie wine, effectively banning the product. He died in hospital four days later.Previous security footage at the vehicle park last showed Chow walking towards the building's third floor at 1:01.39am, when police officers were dispersing anti-government protesters at a nearby demonstration, but was unable to show the moment of the fall.A police detective responsible for reviewing security footage earlier testified he found no useful materials from Kwong Ming Court.But on Thursday, Ko revealed the discovery of the footage at the residential complex, which could largely shake up the course of the court inquiry. Since then, the prime minister has "posted regularly in Chinese to communicate his government's policies".

"The dissemination of such inflammatory material and disinformation is beneath the standards of proper diplomatic conduct".

Some Australian commentators said the censorship of Mr Morrison's message to people living in Australia highlighted the need to regulate the influence of Chinese technology companies in the country.

The law allows the Commonwealth to block any agreement between Australian states, councils or institutions and a foreign government, such as a controversial 2018 deal between the state of Victoria and China.

"Canada continues to engage with China with eyes wide open while defending our interests and standing up for our values".

The latest stinging remarks come after the social media giant WeChat censored Prime Minister Scott Morrison's post, which was a direct appeal to millions of Chinese users on the app.

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Trump has continued to falsely claim victory and spread baseless claims of fraud to try to explain away his loss. Both cases argued the Republican-controlled legislature should decide how to cast the state's electoral votes.

Mr Albanese said it was "extraordinary" the relationship had deteriorated to the point where Chinese officials would no longer pick up the phone to their Australian counterparts.

Relations also nosedived earlier this year when Mr Morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the lethal coronavirus pandemic.

The brutal cartoon from artist Liu Rui is making reference to the findings of the Brereton report, which alleged Australian special forces soldiers committed 39 murders in Afghanistan. The report recommended that 19 soldiers be referred to federal police for criminal investigation.

Afghan media has recently issued an editorial welcoming China's condemnation of "Australian soldiers' atrocity against Afghan civilians".

"Anyway, the agonized Afghans welcome China's move not to only condemn but also react strongly over unlawful killings in Afghanistan and we also welcome other countries' standpoint to bringing the killers of innocent Afghans to justice", the article concluded.

Beijing has refused to apologise for this doctored, graphic tweet posted by its foreign ministry.