SYDNEY • China accused Australia of "petty tricks" yesterday in an intensifying dispute over Canberra's push for an international inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak that could affect diplomatic and economic ties between the countries.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday that his proposed inquiry into how the coronavirus developed and spread would not be targeted at China, but was needed given that Covid-19 had killed more than 200,000 people and shut down much of the global economy.

"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," he said.

Australian government ministers have repeatedly said China was threatening "economic coercion" after its ambassador, Mr Cheng Jingye, said this week that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian products and universities because of the call for the inquiry.

Ms Frances Adamson, head of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), called Mr Cheng to express concern. The Chinese Embassy then released a statement detailing what it said was discussed on the call, prompting a rebuke from DFAT.

The Chinese Embassy returned fire yesterday, saying on its website that details of the call had first been "obviously leaked by some Australian officials" and it needed to set the record straight.

"The Embassy of China doesn't play petty tricks; this is not our tradition. But if others do, we have to reciprocate," an embassy spokesman said in the statement.

Chinese state media has fiercely rounded on Mr Morrison, with Australian studies scholar Chen Hong writing in the Global Times tabloid newspaper yesterday that Australia was "spearheading" a "malicious campaign to frame and incriminate China".

And Mr Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the paper, which is affiliated with the Beijing-controlled People's Daily newspaper, said on Chinese social media that Australia was always 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," he wrote.

New Zealand, which has China as its largest trading partner, yesterday sided with neighbouring Australia in supporting an inquiry into the pandemic.

"It's very hard to conceive of there not being a desire by every country in the world, including the country of origin, for an investigation to find out how this happened," said New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters.

As the diplomatic tensions escalated, the Australian government has been highlighting that the trading relationship with China, its biggest trading partner, was mutually beneficial.

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that about 60 per cent of China's iron ore imports come from Australia, and told Sky News that his country would not respond to "economic coercion".

Mr Andrew Forrest, an Australian iron ore mining magnate who built his fortune in China, backed the idea of an inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic but said it should be held after the United States' presidential election in November so that it would not be seen as political.

Mr Forrest, founder and chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, said the government's call for an international investigation was "common sense".

"But it is not to be a Chinese inquiry - that would make it instantly political," he said.

"If this is held after the US presidential election, then let's just say there's not going to be a political dog in this fight," Mr Forrest told ABC radio.

REUTERS