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Albo's finally finished pandering to Beijing

July 18, 2025

Friday 18 July 2025
Clare Armstrong
The Daily Telegraph
 

Anthony Albanese has rejected claims that his trip to China, including visits  to the Great Wall and a panda conservation centre, has been  "indulgent" and insists Australia will benefit from  "stronger" and stable relations with Beijing.
 
 The Prime Minister, who described his own relationship with Chinese President  Xi Jinping as "warm and engaging", hit back at critics of his  "soft diplomacy" efforts as he wrapped up his six-day visit to  Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu on Thursday.
 
 Senior Coalition MPs have labelled Mr Albanese's visit as lacking  "tangible" outcomes, too focused on "photo ops" and  "not good enough" after he did not walk away from a meeting with Mr  Xi with an assurance of better notification when China conducts military exercises  in the region.
 
 But Mr Albanese said he had raised the issue, noting China's actions were not  technically illegal and the Australian Defence Force participates in similar  drills.
 
 "Australia has engaged in multiple exercises in this (China)  region," he said.
 
 Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson said he believed the China trip  had begun to look "indulgent".
 
 "There are serious issues in the bilateral relationship between  Australia and China and it's good that the Prime Minister had the opportunity  to raise those," he said.
 
 "But I do wonder whether a Gough Whitlam history tour on the Great Wall  of China, whether a visit to Chengdu to pose with some pandas, and whether a  hit of tennis is strictly necessary as part of a sixday visit to China when  there is so much else at stake in our other international relationships  around the world."
 
 On outcomes, Mr Albanese pointed to new tourism co-operation and trade  agreements. He highlighted that during the Coalition's last term there were  no phone calls between a single Australian minister and their Chinese  counterpart.
 
 He wanted to see a "stronger" relationship with China to create  better "understanding" and co-operation on issues. "Will there  be a circumstance when there is no disagreements? No, because we have  different political systems, we have different cultures, we have different  values, so we understand that," he said.
 
 "What I'd like to see is to be able to talk about those issues regularly  and get as much agreement as possible, (and) understanding of where our  nations are coming from."
 
 Mr Albanese said his visits to the Great Wall in Beijing and the Chengdu  Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding were "worthwhile" for  Australians, as the images would be beamed to more than one billion Chinese  people all "potential tourists and there for job creators in  Australia".
 
 "The Great Wall of China symbolises the extraordinary culture and  history here in China, and showing a bit of respect to people never cost  anything," he said.
 
 Touring the panda centre with his fiancee Jodie Haydon, Mr Albanese came  face-toface with Fu Ni, a female giant panda, who called the Adelaide Zoo  home for 15 years.
 
 Mr Albanese called Fu Ni a "great ambassador for China and a great  friend of Australia" though the panda had to be coaxed into view with an  apple.
 
 Mr Albanese also attended a lunch with MedTech representatives and toured a  factory for Australian company Cochlear, which manufactures implants for sale  into China.

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