{"id":1234738,"date":"2022-01-24T09:09:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T14:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1234738"},"modified":"2022-01-24T09:10:27","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T14:10:27","slug":"china-silences-australia-pm-scott-morrison-hijacks-control-of-wechat-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-silences-australia-pm-scott-morrison-hijacks-control-of-wechat-account\/","title":{"rendered":"China Silences Australia PM Scott Morrison: Hijacks Control of WeChat Account"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-silences-australia-pm-scott-morrison-hijacks-control-of-wechat-account%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1234738&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Australia\u2019s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has lost control of his social media account on the Chinese-owned platform WeChat as a lawmaker Monday accused Beijing of political interference.<\/p>\n<p>Morrison\u00b4s 76,000 WeChat followers were told his page had been reframed as \u201cAustralian Chinese new life\u201d earlier this month and his photograph had been removed, the Sydney <em>Daily Telegraph<\/em> newspaper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailytelegraph.com.au\/news\/opinion\/daily-telegraph-editorial-pms-nochat-on-chinas-wechat\/news-story\/6ffab792487142c616319e517e97abf3\">reported<\/a>. The changes were made without the government\u00b4s knowledge, the report added.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>In response to a question from the Associated Press, WeChat\u2019s parent company Tencent said there was \u201cno evidence of any hacking or third-party intrusion,\u201d related to Morrison\u2019s account.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBased on our information, this appears to be a dispute over account ownership,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n<p>In accordance with Chinese regulations, Morrison\u2019s public account was registered with a Chinese citizen and was later transferred to its current operator, the company said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Australia\u2019s parliament is set to probe alleged foreign interference at public universities, a government minister said Monday, as concerns grow about Chinese influence. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yxDXzTpg3F\">https:\/\/t.co\/yxDXzTpg3F<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1300761134727925761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 1, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It identified the present owner of the account only as a \u201ctechnology services company,\u201d adding it would \u201ccontinue to look into this matter further.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security Chair James Paterson accused the Chinese Communist Party of censoring the prime minister with Australia\u2019s elections due by May, Reuters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/australia-pm-morrison-loses-control-wechat-chinese-account-election-looms-2022-01-24\/\">reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Paterson, who is a member of Morrison\u00b4s conservative Liberal Party, called on all lawmakers to boycott the platform.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19601762\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1237557549.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-19601762\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1237557549-1024x720-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"990\" height=\"696\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (R) and Australia\u2019s Prime Minister Scott Morrison attend a video signing ceremony of the bilateral reciprocal access agreement at Kishida\u2019s official residence in Tokyo on January 6, 2022. (ISSEI KATO\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhat the Chinese government has done by shutting down an Australian account is foreign interference of Australian democracy in an election year,\u201d Paterson said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>The governing conservative coalition led by Morrison has long been at odds with Beijing over its aggression in the Indo-Pacific region and lack of candour over the origins of the coronavirus, with Canberra calling on Beijing to account for its actions.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s response has been to retaliate with a trade war and bar a host of Australian products resources from entry.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Australian government\u2019s call for China to explain its bungled handling of the deadly coronavirus pandemic could spark a boycott by Chinese consumers. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OxT3IvMQo7\">https:\/\/t.co\/OxT3IvMQo7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1254813175570141191?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 27, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In November, 2020, Australia announced it will join Japan in a regional defense pact designed to bolster their standing against&nbsp;Beijing\u2019s growing military power and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, as Breitbart News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2020\/11\/10\/after-welcoming-biden-australia-turns-to-japan-for-help-with-china\/\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The new agreement comes after recent calls for the creation of a regional NATO-type defence alliance to act as a counterbalance to China in a charged geopolitical landscape across Asia and the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n<h5><em><span>Follow Simon Kent on Twitter:<\/span> <a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SunSimonKent\" data-show-count=\"false\">Follow @SunSimonKent<\/a> <span>or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com<\/span><br \/><\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia\u2019s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has lost control of his social media account on the Chinese-owned platform WeChat as a lawmaker Monday accused Beijing of political interference. Morrison\u00b4s 76,000 WeChat &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1234738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1234738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1234738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1234738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}