Jaishankar dials Oz counterpart amid Canberra-Beijing tussle
Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 1
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday spoke to his Australian counterpart Marise Payne as a mark of solidarity after clashes on the social media and on the trade front between Canberra and China.
China has turned the screws on a wide range of imports from Australia after its government backed a demand to probe Beijing’s role in the Covid spread. Australia was backing a demand being made by the US and some of its allies.
The tussle entered cyber space after the Australian military was accused of murdering 39 Afghan civilians.
The social media has erupted with western think tanks calling on Joe Biden’s transition team to demonstrate solidarity. Jaishankar’s conversation with Payne should be seen as standing by Australia, an important strategic partner for India in the post-Covid world, said sources.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had called an unscheduled press conference to demand an official apology from China after one of its wolf-warrior diplomats posted a picture of an Australian soldier threatening a young child with a knife.
On Monday evening, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying counter-attacked by saying, “The Australian side has reacted so strongly to my colleague’s Twitter does that mean that they think the cold-blooded murder of Afghan innocent civilians is justified while other people’s condemnation of such crimes are not justified?”
The Australians seemed to be at the receiving end after the editor-in-chief of The Global Times, Hu Xinjin, also jumped in.
