Anthony Albanese Has Slammed

Anthony Albanese has slammed [/news/scott-morrison/index.html Scott Morrison] over the escalation of tensions between Australia and [/news/china/index.html China] - just two days after offering his support.
The Labor leader said the prime minister has overseen a 'complete breakdown' of relations after a Chinese official tweeted a mocked-up image of an Aussie soldier threatening to kill an Afghan child in reference to war crimes allegations.
When Mr Morrison called the image 'repugnant' and demanded an apology from Beijing on Monday, Mr Albanese backed him and said: 'Australia's condemnation of this image is above politics… and we all stand as a nation in condemning it.' 
Anthony Albanese (pictured) has slammed Scott Morrison over the escalation of tensions between Australia and China
But the bi-partisanship ended on Wednesday morning when Mr Albanese launched a scathing attack on the government. 
'This government seems to have presided over a complete breakdown of relationships,' he told Sydney radio station 2SM. 
'The fact that ministers can't pick up the phone to each other, I find that extraordinary. 
'When I was a minister, Chinese ministers visited Australia and I visited there in our national interest about promoting Australian jobs,' he added. 
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Canberra-Beijing tensions have been escalating throughout the year and last week China put a 200 per cent tariff on Australian wine following hold-ups to coal and tour lệ giang seafood exports.
Last month the Chinese embassy released a list of 14 grievances with Australia including the condemnation of human rights abuses in China, the ban on Huawei from Australia's 5G network and calls for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19. 
Mr Albanese pointed out that previous governments have been able to maintain a good relationship with China in recent years.
Scott Morrison (pictured last month) has demanded an apology from China over the image
'I remember Prime Minister Rudd giving a speech in China, in Mandarin, of course, which was critical of human rights issues, but done so in a way that also was designed to make clear our values but not designed to offend for offense sake,' he said.
'And what we were able to do, and the Howard Government was able to do as well, tour shangrila is have relationships that built that economic interaction that was very important for us.' 
Mr Morrison's critics - including Mr Rudd - say he has reacted too strongly to provocation by China and should be 'saying less and doing more' to reset bilateral ties.
Labor MPs say Mr Morrison unnecessarily angered China by calling for an inquiry into Covid-19 which they say would have been set up anyway.  
Canberra-Beijing relations hit a new low on Monday when China's foreign ministry spokesman sparked fury by tweeting this mocked-up image of a digger threatening to kill an Afghan child after a report alleged Aussie troops committed war crimes
Government sources said they were disappointed but unsurprised that Mr Albanese had scrapped bi-partisanship to criticise the government after just two days.  
Beijing has refused to apologise over the doctored image and kynghidongduong.vn doubled down on Tuesday with a new image by the same artist attacking the prime minister.
The image shows Mr Morrison covering a dead body in a war zone while telling a painter - which represents China - to 'apologise'.
The computer-generated image reflects Beijing's view that Mr Morrison should focus on a recent war crimes report - which contained allegations that 25 Australian soldiers unlawfully killed 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners - rather than 'stoking nationalism' by directing his anger to China.     
Communist party newspaper The Global Times has shared this new image attacking the prime minister
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox news" data-version="2" id="mol-d2799a70-32bb-11eb-8772-2f44f90bb0b6" website Albanese blames Scott Morrison for causing tensions with China