Australia has enraged China after backing Trump's call for an investigation into how the coronavirus pandemic started

• Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls for an independent investigation into the coronavirus.
• Morrison said investigating how it occurred was a "very reasonable and sensible course of action."
• Morrison's comments come after Trump called for a "serious investigation" into China's responsibility.
• Australia and China are in a growing diplomatic row amid claims that Beijing concealed the true scale of the pandemic.
• Chinese state media responded by describing Australia as "like chewing gum stuck on the sole of China's shoes."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has enraged China after backing calls for a global investigation into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak.

Morrison on Wednesday defended his calls for an investigation into how the pandemic started, describing it a "very reasonable and sensible course of action."

"This is a virus that has taken more than 200,000 lives across the world," Morrison told reporters in Australia's capital, Canberra. "It has shut down the global economy. The implications and impacts of this are extraordinary."

He added: "Now, it would seem entirely reasonable and sensible that the world would want to have an independent assessment of how this all occurred, so we can learn the lessons and prevent it from happening again."

Morrison's government has also called for an overhaul of the World Health Organisation, whose funding has been cut by Trump.

He has insisted that the WHO must have the power to send in independent inspectors, akin to "weapons inspectors," to determine the source of future outbreaks.

Morrison's latest comments come after Trump said his administration was conducting "serious investigations" into Beijing's handling of the outbreak.

"We are not happy with China" Trump said on Monday.

"We believe it could have been stopped at the source. It could have been stopped quickly and it wouldn't have spread all over the world."

Chinese state media describes Australia as 'gum' on China's shoe

Morrison's government has been engaged in an increasingly heated diplomatic row with China in recent days.

China's ambassador to Australia, Jingye Cheng, over the weekend warned Morrison's government that Beijing might sever the strong trading ties between the two countries if it pushed ahead with its investigations.

"Maybe the ordinary people will say 'Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?'," he said.

Cheng's remarks prompted the head of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Frances Adamson, to call the Chinese diplomat.

The Chinese embassy in Australia on Wednesday denied that it had leaked details of the call, saying it was "obviously leaked by some Australian officials," and that "the Embassy of China doesn't play petty tricks, this is not our tradition."

It added: "But if others do, we have to reciprocate," Reuters reported.

The state-controlled media in China has also taken aim at Australia.

Hu Xijin, editor of state-run media outlet Global Times, wrote on Chinese blogging website Weibo: "After the epidemic, we need to have more risk awareness when doing business with Australia and also when we send our children to study there.

"Australia is always there, making trouble. It is a bit like chewing gum stuck on the sole of China's shoes. Sometimes you have to find a stone to rub it off."

The UK says world can't return to 'business as usual' with China

Australia's allies in Europe are reconsidering their relationships with China following the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Boris Johnson's UK government last week removed China from its international comparisons amid ongoing doubt about the accuracy of case numbers in the country.

The UK's First Secretary of State Dominic Raab, who deputized for Johnson while he recovered from the virus, warned last week that the UK's relationship with China could not return to "business as usual" after the pandemic.

Members of Parliament in Johnson's own Conservative party over the weekend launched the "China Research Group," to "promote debate and fresh thinking about how Britain should respond to the rise of China."

The group is putting pressure on Johnson to rip up its deal with the Chinese telecoms company Huawei to develop the UK's 5G network.

Conservative MP Neil O'Brien, the group's secretary, told Business Insider he felt that Westminster was not thinking hard enough about how to respond to China's growing global power.

"It's important that we don't lose sight of the growing influence of China and issues that raise," he said.

"Looking at other countries like Sweden, Germany, and the US, the debate about responding to Chinese industrial and technological policy in those countries is a bit more advanced than it is here."

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