China slams Australia PM’s calls for coronavirus inquiry

China has today slammed Australia’s calls for an international inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak.

China referring to Australia as “chewing gum on the bottom of our shoe”, despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying the aim was to find out how the virus developed in light of the global death rate, and was not an attack on China.

Australian studies scholar Chen Hong wrote in the Global Times on Wednesday that Australia was ‘spearheading’ a ‘malicious campaign to frame and incriminate China.’

And Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the paper which is connected to the Beijing-controlled People’s Daily newspaper, posted on social media: “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.”