On the eve of the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister, Li Qiang, from Saturday June 15 to Tuesday June 18, to Australia, the country was wondering about the future of two giant pandas, loaned to the Adelaide Zoo in 2009. According to In all likelihood, Beijing would have to extend their stay, or even exchange them for another, more fertile couple. The return of panda diplomacy – China uses these ursids to facilitate connections and improve its image abroad – testifies to the improvement in a relationship which had been particularly turbulent between 2020 and 2022.
In November 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping assured that the two countries could become “trusted partners” while he received for the first time, in seven years, an Australian head of government, Anthony Albanese. Seven months later, the trip of the number two of the People’s Republic to the island continent, the first since 2017, “marks a new milestone in our government’s patient, calibrated and deliberate efforts to re-establish dialogue with China”underlined Mr. Albanese on Wednesday.
During a first stop in Adelaide, the two men were to visit the zoo before having lunch at a wine estate with leaders of the sector which, in 2020, had been hit with anti-dumping taxes, of up to 218%, i.e. an annual cost of 1.1 billion Australian dollars (nearly 700 million euros) for the industry. Beijing lifted them in March.
In total, around ten export products were the target of customs barriers after Canberra called, in April 2020, for an independent investigation into the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic. This initiative had provoked the fury of China, already annoyed by a series of measures, taken by Canberra from 2017, to defend its sovereignty and security.
Retaliatory measures lifted
Coming to power in 2022, Labor Anthony Albanese, who remained firm on questions of national security, displayed a desire for dialogue and reconciliation. The People’s Republic has seized the outstretched hand and lifted most of the retaliatory measures in recent months. There remains the question of lobsters, still excluded from the Chinese market, but which could be resolved following Li Qiang’s stay.
“ I think we are returning to the situation of 2019, when Australia and China had their political differences but they did not affect the positive aspects of the relationship, such as trade.estimates James Laurenceson, director of the Institute of Australia-China Relations.
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