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July 18, 2025
Opposition calls out China pandering over US focus, but Albo backs
in six-day trip as 'successful & constructive'
Anthony Albanese received a rock star welcome in China this week, but he faces mounting criticism at home as the Opposition slams an "indulgent" trip that neglects Australia's relations with the US at a perilous time.
But in a sign of a brewing stoush when Parliament meets next week for the first time since the Federal election, Mr Albanese hit back at what he said was the Coalition's failed policy on China when in government.
"If you compare the difference of this visit with the failure of the Coalition during the last term, during the term in which I was opposition leader, they didn't have a phone conversation between a single minister in Australia and our major trading partner," he said.
"When we look at these things in perspective, what we've had is constructive engagement."
Mr Albanese's messaging and long stay in China have been praised by an effusive state media and warmly received by the Chinese top brass, President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Communist Party Chairman Zhao Leji who welcomed him with an honour guard at the prestigious Great Hall of the People on Wednesday.
But his soft diplomacy drive has been divisive back home.
The strategy was slammed on Thursday by shadow finance minister James Paterson who said that while the Coalition had provided bipartisan support for the Government's trade mission to China, the visit was now starting to look "a little bit indulgent".
"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 six-day visit to China when there is so much else at stake in our other international relationships around the world," he said.
Senator Paterson argued that the appropriate time to do a "nostalgic history tour of Labor Party mythology" was in retirement and not after failing to meet the US President for 250 days after his election.
"We have profoundly serious issues at stake in that bilateral relationship as well, including potentially tariffs on one of our largest export industries to the United States, pharmaceuticals," he said.
Senator Paterson also said AUKUS, the $368 billion security agreement with the US and UK to deliver nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, was "potentially in peril" because the PM had failed to establish a personal rapport with US President Donald Trump.
The trilateral pact is under review, led by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, to establish whether the deal falls in line with the Trump administration's "America First" policy.
Senator Paterson said this merited an "all-out diplomatic charm offensive" with Mr Colby and the President.
"But right now the Prime Minister doesn't seem to have any sense of urgency about this at all," he said.
"And I'm worried that this appears to be calculated neglect, not just accidental, not just indifference."
Shadow foreign affairs minister Michaelia Cash called for Mr Albanese to divert more focus to nailing down a meeting with Mr Trump to directly lobby for a carve-out from damaging US tariffs.
"Where is our trade deal with the United States?" she said on Sky News. "Mr Albanese, you've had your six-day extended visit with our greatest trading partner. You now need to prioritise the relationship, the bedrock of our security, with the leader of the free world, the United States of America."
Mr Albanese hit back with his own broadside that the Coalition was undermining Australia's relationship with China, describing his visit as "very successful" and "constructive" in terms of "advancing national interests".
He said the trip had created more understanding of where the two nations stood.
"Out of understanding can come greater co-operation," Mr Albanese added, defending his decision to visit the Great Wall on Wednesday as a mark of respect to the Chinese people.
The Prime Minister has raised national security concerns with the Chinese Government but also leant into soft diplomacy as a tactic to strengthen regional peace and security, stressing the importance of "people to people" ties and building trust between leaders as an effective way to boost security.
Mr Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding on Thursday for a light-hearted interlude with the playful residents at the start of the last leg of a six-day tour of three major cities to turbocharge economic co-operation with China.
He is the first leader to visit the provincial capital of 21 million since Bob Hawke's trip in 1986. The Prime Minister was still captivated by Fu Ni, an 18year-old panda sent to Adelaide with companion Wang Wang in 2009, coinciding with bilateral free-trade talks.
Pandas have been an instrument of Chinese diplomacy since the Tang dynasty and the gifting, or withdrawing, of the animals has often mapped the rollercoaster of Beijing's relations with other countries. Australia is clearly on the up after the replacement of Fu Ni and Wang Wang with Xing Qiu and Yi Lan, who debuted in January this year as the only pandas in the Southern Hemisphere.
Mr Albanese gave a nod to panda diplomacy as he praised Fu Ni as a "great ambassador" and a "great sign of friendship" between the two countries.
The short tour of the enclosure marked the apex of Mr Albanese's soft power push as he has charged between Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu on a mission to promote greater bilateral co-operation on business, tourism and sport.
The Prime Minister rounded off his trip on Thursday afternoon with a tour of the Cochlear manufacturing and research facility that has helped transform the lives of more than 50,000 Chinese patients with hearing loss.
Mr Albanese praised the Sydney-based company for making an "incredible difference" by bringing its revolutionary bionic ear technology to China, one of its top five markets.
He also name-checked Professor Barry Marshall, a Nobel laureate in physiology from the University of WA, for his "important work" with China and Australia.
Recognised for his groundbreaking research on the treatment of stomach ulcers, Professor Marshall last year was given one of China's most prestigious awards for his work promoting scientific co-operation between the two countries.
The Coalition . . . didn't have a phone conversation between a single minister in Australia and our major trading partner. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese