BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2020) Australia should apologize to Kabul for committing war crimes in Afghanistan instead of criticizing Beijing and calling for a removal of a tweet posted by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, showing a fake image of an Australian soldier killing an Afghan civilian, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday.
On November 19, Australia released a report into the conduct of Australian special forces in Afghanistan that found that elite servicemen took part in the extrajudicial killing of 39 Afghan civilians while deployed in the country alongside the US-led coalition. Earlier in the day, Zhao posted a tweet showing a soldier cutting the throat of an Afghan child, saying that Beijing condemned such acts of violence. The post prompted backlash from Canberra. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that China should be "totally ashamed" and called on Beijing to apologize.
"The Australian side reacted so harshly to my colleague's [Zhao's] personal tweet to show that the killing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan by some Australian military is justified, and the condemnation of such cold-blooded crimes is unjustified?" Hua said during a press briefing.
The spokeswoman also said that Australia should bring those responsible for extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan to justice, issue a formal apology to Kabul and make a commitment to the international community that such war crimes will never happen again.
"He [Morrison] said the Chinese government should be ashamed ... Australian soldiers have committed such heinous crimes, so should the Australian government be ashamed? Should they feel ashamed that their soldiers are killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan?" Hua said.
Commenting on Australia's report, Hua said that the findings are "shocking and frightening." The spokeswoman mentioned that the atrocities committed by the Australian military have been unanimously condemned by the international community.
