China has defended against criticism of the origin of nCoV, while the US struggled to handle the pandemic, the world leadership seems to be open.

When Australia launched a global investigation into the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, no other country immediately responded.

The European Union was only later joined by bringing the idea to the World Health Assembly, which will take place in late May. That situation suddenly made Australia realize that it was pushing for a consolidation effort.

"We just want to know what happened so it doesn't repeat," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on May 8, referring to his discussions with other countries' leaders about international investigations.

Prime Minister Morrison said his international call to investigate was not aimed at any country, but all clues are now directed to China, where the pandemic began.

China's leadership makes it clear that it views criticism of its initial response to Covid-19 as a threat to Beijing's power.

Chinese Ambassador to Australia Cheng Chengye sees the proposal of a global investigation as a "dangerous" move, which could cause Chinese people to boycott Australia's tourism and agricultural products and prevent their children from going to the country.

NYTimes editors Damien Cave and Isabella Kwai said that if China made this threat, Australia could suffer serious economic losses.

However, seeing as China punished those who tried to give Covid-19 early warning in Wuhan or threatened to boycott trade, Australians appeared to have "awakened".

Peter Jennings, a former defense official and now director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said Covid-19 had smashed the last illusions in Australia of a "kind China", that they could do business.

"I think our senior leaders are increasingly wary of China," Jennings said.

In such situations, Australia and many other countries often turn to the United States, the country always considered the "elder" to protect transparency and international cooperation during 7 decades after World War II.

But relying on the leadership role of the "big brother" America at this time seems to be impossible.

Trump showed little interest in cooperating with any country in the fight against the pandemic, leaving nearly 1.4 million people infected and more than 82,000 dead in the country.

Trump also announced that it would stop funding the WHO and the United States did not participate in the European Union's recent vaccine development fund raising effort.

In addition, the US president was bewildered when asked scientists to consider the rather strange Covid-19 treatments such as injecting disinfectant into patients.

"In a crisis, the US would normally mobilize the whole world to take part, no matter how flawed the country is. But this time, when the US was absent, no one would do that," said Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister.

This "big brother" chair was vacated even before Covid-19 broke out, when Trump always upheld the "America first" policy, expressed skepticism with allies and continually withdrew the United States.

In 2018, after the United States withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), 11 countries signed an alternative trade agreement, which was seen as a barrier against growing influence from China.

The gap was made clearer by the world facing Covid-19, the worst crisis in nearly a century, forcing mid-world powers like Australia to hurry to restore their former rules.

Many middle-class powers have discussed ways to combat the epidemic, advocating sharing solutions such as vaccine development and planning for the future together.

Australian officials also participate in weekly discussions about the future of a pandemic with a group of countries, including India, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.

Historically, Australia, a nation of 25 million people, has always found itself inadequate to make an impact on the world political arena, even though its economy is close to Russia's.

In 2018, Australia was one of the first countries to ban two Chinese companies, Huawei and ZTE, from participating in the construction of the country's 5G network, and also passed laws against foreign interference.

When Secretary of State Marise Payne on April 19 announced the promotion of an international investigation of nCoV, Australia surprised the world by pushing the confrontation with China to a new level and taking risks.

However, Australia does not want to assume this role alone.

"Australia is re-establishing the rules of cooperation so we can act more freely and to do that, you need to build an alliance of like-minded nations," said Andrew Hastie, member of parliament

Hastie explained that in order to take on the "leadership" role on the international stage, mid-range powers like Australia need to rely on power, including strength in numbers.

However, in order to promote the Covid-19 investigation, Australia will need to demonstrate more of its independence as well as demonstrate a persistent, meticulous international effort, which the country has.

"The real challenge will be: what Australia will do next," Jennings asked.

Jennings suggests that if the proposed Covid-19 investigation "died prematurely" at WHO, which is being funded by China after the US stops contributing to the budget, Australia could build it on its own, provide funding and support.

It is not clear where Australia's attempt to call the international Covid-19 investigation will go, but many observers believe that efforts to restore such international cooperation could become a way out for the world.

"The international law-based order still needs strengthening," said Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, an Australian MP who often criticized China.