China’s number two diplomat in Australia, Wang Xining, has defended shocking footage showing people suspected of having coronavirus being forcibly pushed into vans as justified, and described the detention camps used to hold an estimated one million people, mostly Uighurs, as “training centres” whose residents are “mostly” there voluntarily.

In a rare public appearance on the ABC’s Q&A on Monday night, Wang grimly held to party lines even as he was laughed at by audience members for his defence of the Chinese government’s treatment of Uighurs and challenged by other panellists over the country’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The deputy ambassador also walked back his previous criticism of the Australian government’s decision to impose travel bans on people coming from China as “panic and overreaction”, saying he commended the response of Australian medical authorities to the coronavirus outbreak.

Wang’s appearance on the revamped Q&A program was a coup for the ABC, but the diplomat did not get an easy run. He was repeatedly challenged by panellist Stan Grant, host Hamish MacDonald and another panellist, the journalist Vicky Xu, on his attempts to label China a democracy and on his defence of the country’s response to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

“I don’t think there is a cover-up,” Wang said.

“It is a very sophisticated issue. It involved a lot of agencies and expertise. It takes time to make precise judgment on how to deal with.”

Xu challenged Wang’s denials the country had attempted to cover up the outbreak of the coronavirus by pointing to the treatment of doctor Li Wenliang, who was punished for trying to raise the alarm about the spread of the virus before his death earlier this month.

Wang called Li “very respectable”, saying “people will remember him for what he [has] done”.

“He’s one of thousands of doctors and nurses who dedicated their life sometimes for the sake of this epidemic,” he said.

Wang also defended footage shown on the program of people believed to have the virus being manhandled on the street by authorities, saying it was justified if they were confirmed cases.

“If they’re confirmed, they are the host,” he said.

“Think of their neighbours. And think of now millions of people are staying home.

“If we let these people out – and there are several cases recently of not communal outbreak, but people-to-people transmission – those people who were infected, what do you say to that?”

China’s response to the outbreak of the virus in the city of Wuhan early this year was also defended by global biosecurity expert Raina MacIntyre, who said the lockdown of the city was an “accepted public health measure” which had “prevented cases from occurring in other countries and the rest of China”.

MacIntyre, from the University of New South Wales, also pointed out Australia had laws allowing for the forcible isolation of people seen to be at risk of spreading an infectious disease.

“It has been used very infrequently but it has been used in Australia to essentially isolate people who are infectious with diseases such as TB or other [diseases],” she said.

Wang also sought to stick to the Chinese government’s line over its treatment of the ethnic minority Muslim Uighur population, but was laughed at by audience members when he sought to correct MacDonald’s description of the detention camps used to imprison the population by calling them “training centres”.

Wang also claimed, incorrectly, that “many” people are held in the camps voluntarily, and said Australian defence minister Marise Payne had been “misinformed” when she described China’s treatment of the Uighur as being “disturbing”.

“Madam Payne was misinformed,” he said. “Her views are sometimes [based] on the western media’s portrayal about the issue. It’s a training centre. People get to be prepared for future jobs.”