China and Australia: how a war of words over coronavirus turned to threats of a trade war

The language of the diplomats and parliamentarians has been anything but diplomatic, and far from parliamentary. The robust conversations usually kept behind closed doors have tumbled into the public square, leaked to broadcasters and splashed in newsprint.

Australia and China’s fractious relationship scrapped its way to an unedifying new low this week, with a degenerating dispute emerging, ostensibly, from Australia’s call for an international, independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic that has so far killed more than 230,000 people.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/03/china-and-australia-how-a-war-of-words-over-coronavirus-turned-to-threats-of-a-trade-war