'Won't back down': Australia refuses to be 'bullied' by Beijing as leaders and experts slam the 'outrageous behaviour' of Chinese diplomat in the wake of coronavirus inquiry demands
- Experts slam 'Leninist' China's outrageous diplomatic bullying as trade fears fly
- Hardened stance under Xi Jinping has spawned nasty 'wolf warrior' diplomacy
- Inquiry 'in China's interest' as US Secretary of State says virus came from a lab
- Spat will soon be in the past and become 'a footnote', says former diplomat
- Coronavirus deaths top 250,000 globally as cases rise to 3.6 million on Monday
- More than 69,000 dead in the US as of Monday with 1.19 million cases
China's 'bullying' in response to Australia's calls for an international coronavirus inquiry has been slammed as 'outrageous' in a fiery Q&A debate.
Lowy Institute executive director Michael Fullilove told the ABC program it was in China's interests to agree to an international investigation after Washington alleged the deadly virus had come from a Wuhan lab in China.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured) is a biosecurity level four laboratory which researched bat coronaviruses and is located not far from the Wuhan wet market

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured) said on Sunday the virus originated in a Wuhan lab. Michael Fullilove said it was in China's interests to have an international inquiry
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said there is 'enormous evidence' the coronavirus outbreak originated in a Chinese laboratory during an interview with US media outlet ABC News on Sunday.
His comments marked an escalation in tensions with China, which has so far refused to allow an independent international investigation into the origins and spread of the devastating pandemic.
Scientists have said they believe the virus jumped from bats to an unidentified intermediary species before infecting humans at a Wuhan wet market where wild animals are kept in cages, slaughtered and killed for meat.
The wet market is located not far from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a biosecurity level four laboratory which researched bat coronaviruses, and the level 2 Wuhan Centre for Disease Control which also collected bat coronavirus samples.
China has been accused by some of covering up the severity of the pandemic after it started, costing the world vital weeks of preparation time.
Dr Fullilove said China was run by a 'Leninist' system and the recent behaviour by its diplomats had been 'outrageous'.

Chinese ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye (pictured) said the Chinese public might stop buying Australian products over Australia's calls for a coronavirus inquiry

Bat soup (pictured) is a delicacy in China. Scientists think the coronavirus jumped species from a bat to an unknown intermediary and then into humans at the Wuhan wet market, where many species were kept in close proximity in unhygienic conditions and slaughtered for food
'What if Australia's ambassador and consuls general behaved in China the way that Chinese diplomats behaved in Australia? I think they'd be given short shrift,' he said.
Dr Fullilove said China had hardened its attitude to the world in recent years and its diplomats were engaging in 'wolf warrior diplomacy' and pushing back hard in an effort to impress President Xi Jinping.
Human Rights Watch Australia director Elaine Pearson said the reason the world is in this predicament is because of China's mishandling of the crisis.
'I think China's showing it's a bully. And I think the way you deal with bullies is you don't just roll over and pike down. You do have to stand up to them,' she said.

Member for Wentworth Devanand 'Dave' Sharma, a former diplomat, downplayed China's threat of economic retaliation, saying it would soon be a footnote to history
China's President Xi Jinping knew about the coronavirus on the 7th of January yet China only shut down the epicentre of the outbreak, Hubei province, on the 23rd of January, after five million people had left to travel through China and the world, spreading the virus.
Australia has called for the World Health Organization (WHO) to support an independent review into how the coronavirus started and spread, and has been lobbying world leaders.
This has angered China which is conducting its own investigation through the Chinese Communist Party, which it says should be enough.
China made its displeasure known on Monday last week when Chinese ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, warned the Chinese public might avoid Australian products and universities if Australia continued to call for international involvement in the investigation.

Human Rights Watch Australia director Elaine Pearson said the reason the world is suffering the pandemic is because of China's mishandling of the crisis.
'Maybe the ordinary people will say 'Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?' Mr Cheng said in the interview on the front page of The Australian Financial Review.
'The parents of the students would also think whether this place which they found is not so friendly, even hostile, whether this is the best place to send our kids.'
This was followed by insults from Global Times editor Hu Xijin who last week described Australia as 'always making trouble... A bit like chewing gum stuck on the sole of China's shoes'.
The Global Times newspaper is the English-language tabloid arm of the Chinese Communist Party's newspaper People's Daily, owned by the CCP's central committee.
The tabloid's editorials are widely regarded as the 'voice' of Beijing even when official CCP statements are more reserved.
Further insults flew on Sunday's 60 Minutes program when influential Chinese academic Chen Hong who writes for the Global Times accused Australia of 'stabbing China in the back' with its calls for an independent inquiry.
The diplomatic spat has sparked fears that China could economically punish Australia for its stance.
However Liberal MP Devanand 'Dave' Sharma told QandA that the disagreement would soon be put in the past.
'I think in the broad sweep of history we'll look back on the last week and we won't think much of it,' he said.
'It will be a footnote.'
Mr Sharma, a former diplomat, downplayed fears of an economic retaliation, saying China does not trade with Australia to do it favours.
'They buy ... because it's a good quality reliable supply,' he said.
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