Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has confirmed the Government has called the Chinese ambassador after he made "threats of economic coercion" over Australia's push for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

Key points: The Chinese ambassador warned of a possible economic backlash over Australia's push for an inquiry into COVID-19's origins

The Chinese ambassador warned of a possible economic backlash over Australia's push for an inquiry into COVID-19's origins Simon Birmingham described the comments as "disappointing"

Simon Birmingham described the comments as "disappointing" Senator Birmingham confirmed the Government called the ambassador about the threats

Ambassador Jingye Cheng suggested the Chinese public may boycott Australian products or decide not to visit Australia in the future if the Commonwealth Government continued its push for an independent inquiry.

"Maybe also the ordinary people will say why should we drink Australian wine or to eat Australian beef?" he said in an interview with the Australian Financial Review.

Senator Birmingham said the comments were "disappointing" and said the Government's position would not change.

"Australia is no more going to change our policy position on a major public health issue because of economic coercion or threats of coercion, than we would change our policy position in matters of national security," he said.

"Surely Australians would expect our Government has determined that the death of hundreds of thousands of people around the world warrants transparency and investigation to prevent it from happening again."

The Trade Minister also confirmed the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Frances Adamson, had called the ambassador to discuss his comments.

But he did not say what the ambassador's response to the call was, or the outcome.

"That's for the ambassador to choose to make public," he said.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Frances Adamson called Mr Cheng about his comments. ( ABC News: Tamara Penniket )

Despite remaining firm on the need for research into how and where the coronavirus began, the Trade Minister was keen to differentiate foreign affairs from business and trade.

"Any policy differences we have with the Government of China, they shouldn't, not from our end or from their end, get in the way of continuing to have positive people-to-people relations and dialogue and positive business-to-business relations and engagement," he said.

"Our economy is a crucial supplier to the Chinese economy, just as China's economy supplies valuable goods, resources and services to Australia's economy.

"We want to maintain that positive relationship and enhance it where we can."

Chinese embassy accuses Australia of 'political games'

In a statement released after the call with Ms Adamson, the Chinese embassy accused Australia of playing "political games", claiming the DFAT head "tried her best" to defend the inquiry.

"She also admitted it is not the time to commence the review now and Australia has no details of the proposal," a spokesperson said.

"She further said that Australia does not want the matter to have any impact on the Australia-China relationship."

The embassy's statement said Mr Cheng was dismissive of concerns raised in the wake of his comments on a potential boycott of Australian products.

"Ambassador Cheng flatly rejected the concern expressed from the Australian side over his remarks during the recent AFR interview, and called on Australia to put aside ideological bias, stop political games and do more things to promote the bilateral relations," the spokesperson said.

In a statement, DFAT said it had, "noted with regret that the embassy of the People's Republic of China has issued a statement releasing purported details of official diplomatic exchanges".

It added: "The department will not respond by itself breaching the long standing diplomatic courtesies and professional practices to which it will continue to adhere.

"How foreign missions engage the Australian media are matters for those missions."

The department said it would continue to pursue Australia's interests, "with all foreign missions according to the highest standards of professionalism, courtesy and respect for our counterparts".

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese agreed with Senator Birmingham, and backed the Government's call for an inquiry.

"Australia wants a positive relationship with China but it's got to be built on a level of trust and transparency and transparency is what is required from assessments of this virus and how it came about," he said.

It is not the first time the Chinese embassy has been vocal about its dislike of Australia's push for an inquiry.

It has previously criticised Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton's comments demanding transparency over the virus's origins.