A Chinese academic has accused Australia of joining the US on a 'crusade' against China after foreign minister Marise Payne called for an investigation into how coronavirus started.

On Thursday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that China 'come clean' after unsubstantiated reports that coronavirus may have originated in a lab in Wuhan.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on Friday demanded that China 'answer those questions' before Ms Payne on Sunday called for an independent inquiry.

A Chinese academic has accused Australia of joining the US on a 'crusade' against China. Pictured: An employee spraying disinfectant at a factory in Wuhan on 25 March

People crowd to buy meat and fish at Khlong Toei wet market in Thailand. The virus is thought to have begun in Wuhan's wet market and there are calls for wet markets to be banned

Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Centre at the East China Normal University, said Australian politicians were engaged in a 'smear campaign' against China.

'It is deplorable that Australia is joining this anti-China crusade that will further damage the bilateral relations, a consequence that we in both countries don't want to see,' he told the AFR.

'At a time when countries in the world are collaborating in the global combat against the COVID-19 pandemic, when what we need most is unity and solidarity, Australia has teamed up with Washington in the smear campaign against China based on red herrings deviating from truth and facts.'

Beijing has not officially responded to Ms Payne's calls for an inquiry but Communist Party politicians normally approve academics' comments before they are released.

As well as calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus, Ms Payne was critical of the World Health Organisation.

Ms Payne (pictured) on Sunday called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus

Chinese President President Xi Jinping is pictured wearing a mask on 10 March

The WHO was slow to label coronavirus a pandemic, argued against border closures and appeared to support China's handling of the crisis, leading President Trump to call it 'China-centric' and halt funding.

Ms Payne told ABC show Insiders: 'We share some of the concerns the United States have identified in regards to the World Health Organisation.'

Australia, with a population of nearly 25 million, paid the UN agency AUD$54.5 million in 2018 - the eighth biggest voluntary contribution of 71 member countries.

China, the world's most populous country and home to almost 1.4 billion people, paid $9.83million in voluntary donations.

Australia's is the eighth biggest donor to the World Health Organisation by voluntary contributions, while China is 21st, 2018 financial figures show

Workers are seen next to a cage with mice (right) at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in a file photo

The Wuhan Institute of Virology is China's only bio-safety level four (BSL-4) facility

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 26,898 Victoria: 20,042 New South Wales: 4,200 Queensland: 1,152 Western Australia: 662 South Australia: 466 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 26,898 CURRENT ACTIVE CASES: 903 DEATHS: 849 Updated: 8.50 PM, 20 September, 2020 Advertisement

China has refuted claims that the virus may have originated in a laboratory near the city of Wuhan where contagious samples were being stored.

Scientists in Australia have said there is 'no evidence' the virus started in the lab.

A bat virus named RaTG13 was stored at the Wuhan institute - but it would take 20 years to mutate into the coronavirus, according Professor Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney.

He said the disease most likely jumped from animals to humans.

'Coronaviruses are commonly found in wildlife species and frequently jump to new hosts. This is also the most likely explanation for the origin of SARS-CoV-2,' he said.

Associate Professor Hassan Vally of La Trobe University added: 'There is no substance to this claim and other conspiracy theories about the origin of COVID-19'.

Asked about the lab theory at a White House press conference on Wednesday, Trump replied cryptically: 'More and more, we're hearing the story.'

'We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened,' Trump said.

Mr Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News that 'one of the best ways they [China] could find to cooperate would be to let the world in and to let the world's scientists know exactly how this came to be; exactly how this virus began to spread.'

'[There were] a lot of cases [and] a lot of movement; a lot of travel around the world before the Chinese Communist Party came clean about what really transpired there,' the secretary of state continued.

'These are the kinds of things that open governments [and] democracies don't do. It's why there's such risk associated with the absence of transparency. We need it still today.'

The Wuhan lab is China's only bio-safety level four (BSL-4) facility.