Fake Chinese picture posted by China... of Australian Forces causes 'Spat' into ...

[TOM4CWB]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55168883

From furious insults to WeChat censorship, a spat between China and Australia over a controversial tweet has escalated into an online tit-for-tat in recent days.

The catalyst for the row, posted by a top Chinese government official, was a fake image.
But the diplomatic fall-out has been all too real, plunging an already fragile relationship between the two countries further into the abyss.

Warning: This story contains an image some people might find distressing.
Australia demands China apology for 'repugnant' post
China defends gruesome Australia tweet
The year when Australia and China hit 'lowest ebb'
'Truly repugnant'
It all began with that shocking tweet.
On Monday China's foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian posted this fake image on Twitter, responding to a damning report about alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.
In a fake image, an Australian solider is seen murdering a child who is holding a lamb
IMAGE COPYRIGHTTWITTER
We've blurred out a part of it, but the picture shows a grinning Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife to the throat of an Afghan child.
"Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, and call for holding them accountable," he wrote.
Less than two hours later, a furious Scott Morrison, Australia's prime minister, was on national television demanding an apology from Beijing. Deploying his most undiplomatic language to date, he called it "truly repugnant, deeply offensive, utterly outrageous".
He added that Australia had established a transparent process to investigate the alleged war crimes, as was expected of a "democratic, liberal" country.

What is China up to?

[TOM4CWB]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55168883

From furious insults to WeChat censorship, a spat between China and Australia over a controversial tweet has escalated into an online tit-for-tat in recent days.

The catalyst for the row, posted by a top Chinese government official, was a fake image.
But the diplomatic fall-out has been all too real, plunging an already fragile relationship between the two countries further into the abyss.

Warning: This story contains an image some people might find distressing.
Australia demands China apology for 'repugnant' post
China defends gruesome Australia tweet
The year when Australia and China hit 'lowest ebb'
'Truly repugnant'
It all began with that shocking tweet.
On Monday China's foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian posted this fake image on Twitter, responding to a damning report about alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.
In a fake image, an Australian solider is seen murdering a child who is holding a lamb
IMAGE COPYRIGHTTWITTER
We've blurred out a part of it, but the picture shows a grinning Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife to the throat of an Afghan child.
"Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, and call for holding them accountable," he wrote.
Less than two hours later, a furious Scott Morrison, Australia's prime minister, was on national television demanding an apology from Beijing. Deploying his most undiplomatic language to date, he called it "truly repugnant, deeply offensive, utterly outrageous".
He added that Australia had established a transparent process to investigate the alleged war crimes, as was expected of a "democratic, liberal" country.

What is China up to?

"An unrepentant China
But there was no apology forthcoming from China - only a resolute doubling-down on all sides, saying the image was a caricature and the responses an overreaction.
To Australia, it had this to say: "The accusations made are simply to serve two purposes. One is to deflect public attention from the horrible atrocities by certain Australian soldiers. The other is to blame China for the worsening of bilateral ties."

And to France, it pointed to the country's robust defence of the right to caricature mounted not too long ago.

"Where is the freedom of expression which you boast about?" retorted the Chinese embassy in Paris.

Déclaration du porte-parole de l'Ambassade de Chine en France au sujet des critiques du Ministère français de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères contre la condamnation par la partie chinoise du meurtre des civils afghans par des militaires australienshttps://t.co/4mvMAK3ohB pic.twitter.com/XHUoztDWeh
— Ambassade de Chine en France (@AmbassadeChine) December 1, 2020

The spat ventured into new territory on Tuesday - literally - as Mr Morrison took the rare step of using the Chinese messaging platform WeChat to appeal to Chinese people, in particular the sizeable community living in Australia.
PM @ScottMorrisonMP just put out an statement on WeChat in Chinese.https://t.co/DiIlNwHONk

There is probably an English original somewhere, but here is a rough translation of it from CN to EN pic.twitter.com/uOAVVPsGG0
— Adam Ni (@adam_ni) December 1, 2020

The diplomatic dispute "does not diminish respect and appreciation for the Chinese community in Australia", he wrote, while also reiterating earlier criticism of the false image and defending Australia's handling of the war crimes probe.
A blocked message and a 'tiger's backside'
By Wednesday morning, Mr Morrison's message had been read by 50,000 WeChat users.
However, by that very evening his post was scrubbed by WeChat. A note from the platform's operation centre said the content violated regulations, including "distorting historical events and confusing the public".
Then, in Chinese state media, this editorial and cartoon appeared.
The Global Times newspaper had this to say: "Some Western people are very unaccustomed to criticism from Chinese people. The West seems like a tiger that no one dares touch its backside.
"Satirical cartoons include artistic exaggerations. It has made Australian officials uncomfortable. But think about it: How many times has the West produced cartoons that offend some non-Western people?... Why can't they accept it when the Chinese Foreign Ministry follows up with criticism?"
Mr Morrison, meanwhile, was left dealing with a Twitter pile-on as angry Chinese netizens demanded he apologise and back down.
So what's all this really about?
This war of words does not come from nowhere. Ties between Australia and China were already fractured to begin with. Earlier this year, Canberra's call for a probe into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic triggered an angry response from Beijing.
Accusations have flown from both sides on matters including espionage and press freedoms, while economic sanctions have been deployed too.
But this "tweet war" brings the dispute into a new sphere, notes Professor James Laurenceson from the Australia China Relations Institute.
He thinks the tweet from Mr Zhao was bait and the escalation was in some ways inevitable given that social media can be fertile ground for "emotional responses rather than cool rational ones".
"Zhao has a track record. He's done this to several countries before. So I think it was a bit of trolling," he told the BBC.
China’s new brand of tough-talking diplomats
But he noted that the Australian premier's stiff response was also a sort of "confirmation that the trolling works".
"Our response was in order, but it probably wasn't the cool, calm response that we needed," Prof Laurenceson added.
No one really knows what will happen next in this new diplomatic battlefield. Earlier this week, Twitter declined Canberra's request to remove the fake image that started it all, although it has been labelled as sensitive content.
Meanwhile, the tweet remains proudly pinned to the top of Mr Zhao's Twitter account - where it has been "liked" nearly 65,000 times.
Reporting by Preeti Jha and Frances Mao

[TOM4CWB]

This can't be good Mallee... for Aussie grain prices...

Here is todays NA analysis by my Broker:

"Grains and Oilseeds by Tyler
· Grains & Oilseeds are stronger here this morning with beans up 13, corn up 3, wheat down 2 and canola up 5
· Volatile price action has been seen over the past 2 sessions as downside moves in the grains and oilseeds appear to have been rejected
· SA weather forecasts had beans down hard early yesterday but rumors of Chinese purchases arose and helped to pull prices off of lows
· Rumours were for 2-4 cargos of beans, will look to see if they show up in the flash sales this morning
· All eyes will be on today’s weekly exports as well to see if China continues to be a buyer in the background of US soybeans – especially after cancelation news that floated around last week
· Estimates are for between 400,000 and 1,150,000 MT
· China has also drafted new laws on food security – The new rules now encourage local governments to build up supplies of processed grains & vegoils in areas that are prone to market and supply vulnerability
· This has many wondering if China’s grain/vegoil stocks are not as large as the USDA suggests and could support further state buying in the future
· Oct soybean crush hit a new all-time record high at 196.57 mil bushels – this number was largely expected by trade
· So far, cumulative crush has reached 16.9% of the USDA’s current target vs 16.1% last year
· Another 3-4 days of hot dry weather for BRZ but showers are in the forecasts for north and central starting over the weekend
· Amounts look to be lower than average for this time a year but could help stabilize worsening conditions in the near term
· Soil moisture deficits however may need to see even better rains for the remainder of the growing season to make up for some of the deficits
· Beans are back above their 20-day moving average at 11.59. A close back above this could signal a resumption of the down trend
· Next support comes in at $11.40 – 38% retracement of the November move
· Those interested in re-owning soybeans could look to buy Jan futures at or near the close today (presuming we are still above $11.59) with stops below the 38% retracement at $11.40
· Corn found renewed buying on rumours China could have bought up to 1 mmt of US corn
· Cash connected traders are also looking for China to issue another round of corn import licenses (5 mmt)
· Estimates for today’s weekly exports are between 800,000 and 1,600,000 MT
· SA rains in the forecast will help keep a bit of a lid on optimism however
· Weekly ethanol production came in 5 million gallons from the previous week
· Hope is that the arrival of a covid-19 vaccine could see improved ethanol demand into the new year
· Next support for March corn comes in at $4.22 (20-day moving average)
· Resistance is at $4.39 ½ - Monday’s highs
· Oversold conditions in wheat got reversed yesterday as the complex shrugged off Tuesday’s losses
· Trade is mixed to lower for the complex here this morning
· Mar SRW is back trading above $5.85 – bottom end of the past 2 month range
· There were also rumours China was pricing out US HRW and White Winter Wheat
· No sales confirmations as of yet but China was a purchaser of white wheat last week from the US
· HRW is now competitive compared to Black Sea and EU prices which could also help support the ideas of increased Asian business
· Weekly export sales are estimated between 250,000 and 700,000 MTs
· Canola followed weakness in the soy complex as well yesterday – however it still continues to hold up better than beans comparatively and is up strong this morning
· Weakness was likely tied to some fund profit taking ahead of StatsCan report
· StatsCan is out today at 8:30 am ET 6:30 am MT
· Estimates are wide with some in trade looking for a smaller crop which could further tighten ending stocks while others are calling for increases based on understand seeded acres in the spring
· Average trade guess is 19.3 mmt with a range of 18.8 – 19.8 mmt
· Support for Canola comes in at 579.7 followed by 567.6"

[beaverdam]

ChiComs are liars, and will smear any and all. They still have this fantasy about being a great country.
The only rules ChiComs respect and enforce, are those they make for their poor citizens.
Bribery and graft is a way of life for them.
They will however, will become more powerful when Biden climbs in bed with them.
I predict,

1) Biden will allow Huawei into 5G

2) Biden will drop the extradition of Meng

3) ChiComs buy more ag from USA

4) Biden family gets fabulously rich, like multi billionaire rich

[blackpowder]

Morrison fell in a trap.
I think new normal in relations though.
While watching Morrison respond on tv I was a little jealous. Their PM has something ours never will.

[jamesb]

ChiComs are liars, and will smear any and all. They still have this fantasy about being a great country.
The only rules ChiComs respect and enforce, are those they make for their poor citizens.
Bribery and graft is a way of life for them.
They will however, will become more powerful when Biden climbs in bed with them.
I predict,

1) Biden will allow Huawei into 5G

2) Biden will drop the extradition of Meng

3) ChiComs buy more ag from USA

4) Biden family gets fabulously rich, like multi billionaire rich

yes I agree but I think things are way worse in China that is being let on, economically, food security wise and health wise. They are masters of deception. The tough part for the smaller countries is that we don't scare them the way Trump has and everyone knows it. The reality is though the west want to sell them things as we buy from them so the games will continue. Ag products is one of their big buys so it doesn't bother me to buy Chinese tires for my semi because I don't want to pay big bucks for tires to go on my old super B. I won't be buying a Chinese cell phone and don't want to see Chinese 5 G so I hope we can set some guidelines.

[TASFarms]

Where do you find a cell phone that’s not made in China?

[TASFarms]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxnews.com/world/australians-banned-from-island-after-chinese-real-estate-companys-purchase-report.amp

[malleefarmer]

Barley wine coal beef to a lesser extent wheat and gas all in the tariff firing line.

Not really helping anything as were the only country questioning them.

Although NZ is not as vocal but similar views.

Real losers and barley and wine.

Wine will find a new home barley not sure.