“This is a new low, even for the Chinese Communist Party,” it said.
US ambassador to Australia Arthur Culvahouse said the Morrison government had set an example in transparency by investigating and publicly disclosing allegations of war crimes.
“The PRC would do well to follow Australias example and disclose to the world all it knows about the origin of the COVID-19 virus,” he said.
“And the world can only wish that the Chinese Communist Party were to bring the same degree of transparency and accountability to credible reports of atrocities against the Uighurs in Xinjiang.”
The UK government also expressed its deep concern over the fake image.
“Disinformation is an issue we take extremely seriously and we will continue to co-ordinate closely with Australia and other international partners to ensure our citizens are protected,” the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.
Mr Albanese said while the Chinese ministry’s tweet was offensive, he called on Mr Morrison to do better at managing the relationship.
“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 offence sake,” he said.
“And what we were able to do, and the Howard government was able to do as well, is have relationships that built that economic interaction that was very important for us.
“This government seems to have presided over a complete breakdown of relationships.”
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe said on Wednesday the economic “consequences” of the “strained” Australia-China relationship would depend on whether the tensions continued or relations were repaired.
Positively, Dr Lowe said the RBA continued to have “productive” discussions with China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, while infrastructure stimulus spending had supported Australia’s mining sector.
“The Chinese economy has bounced back and that’s supporting commodity prices right around the world, which helps us,” Dr Lowe said.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who spoke at length to Mr Morrison on Tuesday including about China, said while the tweet was “beyond the pale”, it was time to focus on repairing the relationship.
“The time has come for everyone to take a breath, to sit down and work through the issues,” he said.
Chinese officials and media attacked New Zealand and France for their expressions of support for Australia. “Can a country where the right to caricature is loudly defended not tolerate the right to caricature of a young Chinese painter,” the Chinese embassy in Paris said.