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China tells Australia to ‘apologise to the Afghan people’ after row over cartoon depicting Australian war crimes

CHINA dismissed Australian demands for an apology for tweeting a poster depicting war crimes in Afghanistan today, saying Australia should instead “apologise to the Afghan people.”

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for Beijing to apologise after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted a cartoon showing a grinning soldier on an Australian flag holding a knife to an Afghan child’s throat, adding: “Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians and prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts and call for holding them accountable.”

Mr Zhao was responding to an Australian war crimes report which found Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and civilians during the US-led war on the country.

The report details an incident in which Australian special forces “saw two 14-year-old boys whom they decided might be Taliban sympathisers. They stopped, searched the boys and slit their throats.”

Mr Morrison said Mr Zhao’s tweet was “utterly outrageous” but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying retorted that Australia should “reflect deeply, bring the perpetrators to justice … and solemnly promise that they will never commit such crimes again.”

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