• Chinese state media mouthpiece published parody illustration after G7 summit 
  • The meeting between western democratic nations scolded Chinese aggression
  • Beijing denounced the group and said that China is being slandered by the west
  • The news outlet also took a swipe at Australia calling the country ‘double-faced’ 
  • Scott Morrison won strong support at the summit for Australia’s touch stance 

The cartoon, which went viral on Chinese social media on Sunday after the world leaders met in Cornwall, UK, for the G7 Summit, depicts the Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles before his crucifixion.

The title of the image reads ‘through this we can still rule the world’ and shows the leaders surrounded by piles of money.

Social media users in China mocked the G7 leaders as they shared the cartoon on Weibo, with one saying it was ‘perhaps their “last supper”‘.

The fresh propaganda attack comes after Scott Morrison won key backing from world leaders at the UK summit, with a multilateral pledge to tackle Chinese economic distortion as well authoritarian crackdowns in Hong Kong.

In the cartoon, the US is at the centre of the table representing Jesus and takes the shape of a bald eagle, while the UK is a lion, Australia a kangaroo, France a rooster, India an elephant, Canada a beaver, Italy a wolf, Japan a dog and Germany a hawk.

The image soon went viral on Chinese social media among communist supporters.

In the satirical cartoon, the kangaroo – representing Australia – reaches across the table to reach the money the US has printing, while clutching a hand in its spare hand.

‘The kangaroo symbolizes the double-faced Australia which actively cooperates with the US in containing China, but is also eager to earn money from China, its largest trading partner,’ the Global Times said.

The cartoon went viral on Weibo on Sunday, with scores of users praising the artist.

‘But this is perhaps their “last supper”, one user mocked. ‘With different positions, for various interests of their own, these countries and regions can’t form a real league against China.’

The cartoon emerged as the G7 leaders, alongside guest nation leaders from Australia, South Africa and South Africa, issued a joint statement criticising China over a range of issues.

The joint statement was highly critical of China and called on the opaque regime to be more transparent about the origins of the Covid pandemic, while also slamming Beijing for its human rights record.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed ‘the very strong support for the stand that Australia has taken very consistently in standing up for liberal democratic principles in our region’.

But China soon hit back on Monday by claiming the G7 was ‘slandering’ China.

The G7 leaders on Sunday took China to task over human rights in the heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang, called for Hong Kong to keep a high degree of autonomy and underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait – all highly sensitive issues for Beijing.

China’s embassy in London said it was strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed mentions of Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan that ‘distorted the facts’ and exposed the ‘sinister intentions of a few countries such as the United States’.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still ranging and the global economy sluggish, the international community needs unity and cooperation of all countries rather than ‘cliquey’ power politics sowing division, the embassy added.

‘China’s internal affairs must not be interfered in, China’s reputation must not be slandered, and China’s interests must not be violated,’ it added.

‘We will resolutely defend our national sovereignty, security, and development interests, and resolutely fight back against all kinds of injustices and infringements imposed on China.’

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday’s statement from G7 was a significant move forward for the group as leaders rallied around the need to ‘counter and compete’ with China on challenges ranging from safeguarding

China’s embassy said the G7 should do more that is conducive to promoting international cooperation instead of artificially creating confrontation and friction.

‘We urge the United States and other members of the G7 to respect the facts, understand the situation, stop slandering China, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and stop harming China’s interests,’ the embassy said.

The embassy also said work on looking at the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic should not be politicised, after the G7 in the same statement demanded a full and thorough investigation of the origins of the coronavirus in China.

The joint expert group on the virus between China and the World Health Organization has been conducting research independently and following WHO procedures, the embassy added.

‘Politicians in the United States and other countries ignore facts and science, openly question and deny the conclusions of the joint expert group report, and make unreasonable accusations against China.’

But Mr Morrison has thrown his support behind a second investigation into the origins of Covid-19 amid growing concern the virus may have leaked from a lab in Wuhan.

The Prime Minister backed US President Joe Biden’s calls for Beijing to agree to a ‘complete and transparent’ international inquiry after a probe by the World Health Organisation failed to reach a conclusion earlier this year.

After meeting Mr Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Cornwall, Mr Morrison said a second phase of investigations was needed to trace the origins of the pandemic and learn valuable lessons.

Prime Minister Morrison, in a closed-door address, addressed the summit on Sunday emphasising the need to ’embrace a liberal, rules-based order’ against ongoing authoritarianism, The Australian reported.

Canberra’s relationship with Beijing sensationally unraveled in April last year, when Mr Morrison’s government called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid pandemic.

The call for transparency outraged Beijing and the authoritarian state targeted an array of Australia exports with arbitrary bans and tariffs as apparent payback.

One of those key sectors hit with a soaring 212 per cent tariff was the $6billion wine industry, which exported 39 percent of all total product to China in 2019.

Barley, cotton, seafood, beef, copper, and coal where among the other industries crippled by the fallout.