Prime Minister Scott Morrison has won praise in one of the Chinese Communist Party's key media mouthpieces, with an academic applauding his "decent gesture" of equating scrutiny over controversial Liberal MP Gladys Liu to racism.

The Global Times, which is fiercely nationalistic and a frequent critic of Australia, has published an opinion piece written by Chen Hong, the director of East China Normal University's Australian Studies Centre, who attacked "bloodthirsty anti-China hawks" for pursuing Ms Liu over her ties to community groups linked to the Chinese Communist Party.