China vs. Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, and Nigeria
Australia-China relations hit a new low following Australia’s refusal to drop its calls for a probe into the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Chinese ambassador to Australia retaliated by suggesting that Australia would face economic punishment by its largest trading partner should it continue down this line of inquiry.
Other countries whose politicians are calling for an international inquiry into COVID-19 include Sweden, New Zealand, the U.K.,and the U.S., where some officials like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have already decided that the coronavirus escaped from a lab.
China’s relations with Nigeria also took a major hit last week when Nigeria’s House of Representatives passed, without objection, an unprecedented motion to censure China for its reported maltreatment of Nigerians in Guangzhou.
