Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s WeChat account has disappeared, sparking accusations of Chinese “interference” by senior Australian government officials on Monday.
Morrison’s account on the Chinese social media app, launched in February 2019, appears to have been replaced by an account titled “Australian Chinese New Life”.
WeChat is China’s dominant messaging and social media platform, and Western services such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China.
Morrison had no immediate comment, but a senator from his ruling centre-right Liberal Party accused Beijing of supporting the change.
“What the Chinese government is doing by closing the Prime Minister’s account is really foreign interference in our democracy,” James Patterson told 2GB radio on Monday.
Patterson responded by calling on Australian politicians to boycott WeChat.
According to the account’s about page, the name “Australian Chinese New Life” was registered on October 28, 2021. But the account’s posts, dating back to February 1, 2019, included Morrison’s first, which read: “I’m happy to open my official WeChat account”.
AFP has contacted Tencent, the parent company of WeChat, for comment.
Morrison first launched his WeChat account ahead of the 2019 election to communicate with Australia’s large Chinese-Australian community.
That year, Morrison was asked by reporters if his account was at risk of being censored by the Chinese Communist Party.
“We haven’t experienced any such scrutiny,” he said.
In December 2020, WeChat removed a Morrison post defending an Australian investigation into allegations of war crimes committed by Australian soldiers.
The post also criticized Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian for tweeting a fake photo of an Australian soldier holding a knife. The last post on the “New Australian Chinese Life” account was on July 9, 2021.
Morrison has been locked out of his account since then, The Telegraph reported.
All posts on the “New Australian Chinese Life” account are related to Australian government announcements or Morrison’s news.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
