Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has called on China to fulfill its international obligations and support an investigation into the global pandemic.
“There must be an investigation into how the virus got into human populations, wherever it was first reported so that we can be better prepared; so that we can determine whether the virus could have been contained,” she said.
China has a unique responsibility to uphold international peace and security as a member of the United Nations Security Council. Bishop believes the pandemic has been a threat to international security because of its disruption to the global economy and societies.
Threats and Coercion
Bishop also said it was not the time for “threats or coercion” by China, given the international community is amid a global pandemic.“We don’t lightly form the views that we do on these things, and we hold the position that we have,” he said.
The prime minister also noted that Australia was not pursuing a “targeted attack” but rather “a very reasonable and sensible course of action.”
“Australia will do what is in our interest, in the global interest, and we will, of course, continue to support moves to ensure there is a proper independent assessment of what has occurred here. I mean, that is in the global health interest, it is in the global economic interest,” said Morrison.