Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an apology from China, but instead he became a target of internet trolls

Scott Morrison's demand for an apology over the doctored image of an Australian soldier tweeted by a top Chinese diplomat has backfired, with the Prime Minister himself now the target of pro-China trolling on Twitter and other social media platforms. The image — edited to show an Australian soldier holding a knife to an Afghan child's throat — was posted on Monday by Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry.

Within hours, Mr Morrison demanded an apology for the "repugnant" image, but instead, Mr Zhao pinned the image to the top of his Twitter feed. The Australian embassy shared Mr Morrison's demand for an apology on Chinese social media platform Weibo and the post received nearly 20,000 comments, predominantly in favour of China, while the embassy's other posts only had a few dozen comments.

The Chinese Government's unapologetic attitude is likely to have fanned nationalist trolling against Mr Morrison on Chinese social media platforms. Users called the Prime Minister "stupid and arrogant", "the trouble maker", "lunatic" and even "crazy dog".

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