'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.

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 6,823

New South Wales: 3,033

Victoria: 1,406

Queensland: 1,038

Western Australia: 551

South Australia: 438

Tasmania: 221

Australian Capital Territory: 107

Northern Territory: 29

TOTAL CASES:  6,823

RECOVERED: 5,859

DEAD: 96

'If you look at China's import mix, the three countries from whom they import the most goods is South Korea, Japan and Taiwan - not three countries with whom you'd think China normally has good relations. They trade with them extensively because it’s in their interests to do so.'

Mr Sharma said China's diplomats were speaking partly for a domestic audience in Beijing and that Australia was going to have to work and trade with China despite the differences. 

Mr Sharma  said the coronavirus investigation should not be about any one country but about whether the international institutions served us well.

'Did the World Health Organization perform as it should?' he said.   

China accounts for 26 per cent of Australia's total trade, worth around $235 billion in 2018/19, and is the biggest single market for Australian exports including coal, iron ore, wine, beef, tourism and tertiary education. 

Australia's universities have also been transformed over the last few decades from institutions of learning geared towards Australian citizens to become an export industry for foreign student migrants worth more than $37.6 billion in 2018/19, according to figures from education minister Dan Tehan.  

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong warned that disengagement with China - economically or geopolitically - was not an option.  

'There are differences at times between our interests and we have to constructively and productively navigate those differences,' she said.

Worldwide coronavirus cases rose to 3,604,162 as of Monday night with 250,070 deaths, 2,184,687 active cases and 1,169,405 recovered according to the Worldometers website which tracks the virus statistics.

The US has been the hardest hit with 1,194,456 cases and 69,008 deaths. 

AMBASSADOR'S ECONOMIC THREAT TO AUSTRALIA

In an interview with the Australian Financial Review, Ambassador Cheng slammed Australia's push for a global inquiry as 'political' and warned Chinese consumers could boycott the country.

Answering a question about whether China could boycott Australian iron ore or gas, Mr Cheng instead focused on China's contribution to Australia's agriculture, tourism and education sectors. 

Mr Cheng said: 'I think if the mood is going from bad to worse, people would think why we should go to such a country while it's not so friendly to China.

'The tourists may have second thoughts. Maybe the parents of the students would also think whether this place, which they find is not so friendly, even hostile, is the best place to send their kids to. 

'So it's up to the public, the people to decide. And also, maybe the ordinary people will think why they should drink Australian wine or eat Australian beef.' 

TIT FOR TAT: TIMELINE OF AUSTRALIA'S DEEPENING COVID-19 DISPUTE WITH CHINA

February 1, 2020: Australia bans foreign nationals who have travelled in mainland China from entering the country for 14 days

February 13: As the travel bans are extended, the Chinese embassy lashes out, labelling Australia's move as 'extreme' and an 'overreaction indeed'

April 15: Treasurer Josh Frydenberg savages the World Health Organisation (WHO) for supporting the reopening of Chinese wet markets

April 19: Foreign Minister Marise Payne calls for a global inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and China's handling of it 

Senator Payne tells the ABC such an inquiry should be run independently of the WHO. 

April 26: China's ambassador, Cheng Jingye, warns the Morrison government its inquiry push could cause a Chinese consumer boycott.

Mr Cheng warns tourists 'may have second thoughts' and students' parents would wonder if Australia is 'the best place to send their kids to', and that consumers may not want to buy Australian wine or beef 

The Australian government fires back, with Senator Payne saying the country rejects  'any suggestion that economic coercion is an appropriate response to a call for such an assessment, when what is needed is global co-operation'. 

April 28: Chinese embassy releases an unusual statement describing a call with the bureaucrat in charge of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) 

In a statement, DFAT says it 'regrets' the release of 'purported details of official diplomatic exchanges'.

The department will not respond by itself breaching the long standing diplomatic courtesies and professional practices to which it will continue to adhere,' DFAT said.