The US has ramped up pressure on China to reveal details about the origins of the coronavirus outbreak while pointing to Australia as one of a growing number of nations who "understand the risk of doing business with the Chinese Communist Party".
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it had been 128 days since Dr Ai Fen, director of China's Wuhan Central Hospital emergency unit, shared information on the internet about a patient with a SARS-like virus.
He said if China had been transparent about the outbreak hundreds of thousands of lives and the world's economy could have been spared.
"China is still refusing to share the information we need to keep people safe, such as viral isolates, clinical specimens, and details about the many COVID-19 patients in December 2019, not to mention 'patient zero'," Mr Pompeo said.
Mr Pompeo pointed to Prime Minister Scott Morrison while launching the latest verbal salvo against China. Source: AAP
Mr Pompeo said the US needs reliable partners willing to share data in a timely way.
He noted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's call for an independent investigation into the origin of the outbreak.
"As a result of China's choices, countries are starting to understand the risk of doing business with the Chinese Communist Party and taking action to protect their people," Mr Pompeo said.
"In recent weeks, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, and France have demarched the Chinese Communist Party ambassadors for a whole host of lies and misdeeds.
"Spain has returned defective test kits made in China.
"The Czech Republic and other nations have received shoddy PPE (personal protective equipment).
"The Australians and the Swedes have called for an independent review into the outbreak."
The US also called on European nations and World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to invite Taiwan to observe this month's World Health Assembly.
Australia publicly supports Taiwan's participation as an observer or guest.
Mr Pompeo pushed back against suggestions he and other members of the Trump administration issued conflicting statements about the exact origins of the novel coronavirus.
He said the US did not have certainty, but there was significant evidence it came from the lab.
"Every one of those statements is entirely consistent," he said.
"We are all trying to figure out the right answer. We are all trying to get the clarity."
The Chinese state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology has said the virus did not originate there.
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