Chinese Premier Promises More Pandas and Calls on Australia to Resolve Differences

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited Australia on Sunday and focused on the positive aspects of bilateral relations, including shared giant pandas and a rebounding wine trade, after urging both countries to resolve their differences.

China’s most powerful leader after President Xi Jinping arrived late Saturday in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia state. Adelaide has been the source of most of the Australian wine that has entered China since crippling tariffs were lifted in March that had effectively ended trade worth 1.2 billion Australian dollars ($790 million) a year since 2020.

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Li visited the Adelaide Zoo, which has been home to Chinese-born giant pandas Wang Wang and Fu Ni since 2009, before having lunch at a winery restaurant in Adelaide.

He announced that two more pandas would be loaned to the zoo after the pair are scheduled to return to China in November, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. The pair are the only pair of pandas in the Southern Hemisphere and have not produced any cubs in Australia.

Li’s visit is the first by a Chinese premier to Australia in seven years and marks an improvement in relations since the election of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party in 2022.

Li noted that Albanese became the first Australian prime minister to visit China since 2016 in November.

“China-Australia relations are back on track after a period of ups and downs, bringing tangible benefits to the people of both countries,” Li said, according to a translation released by the Chinese embassy in Australia on Sunday.

“History has proved that mutual respect, seeking common ground while resolving differences, and mutually beneficial cooperation are valuable experiences for the development of China-Australia relations and must be maintained and carried forward,” Li added.

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Before Li’s visit, dozens of pro-Chinese protesters and human rights activists gathered outside the zoo.

After the end of the previous conservative government’s nine-year term, China initiated a restart of relations.

Relations broke down over a law banning covert foreign interference in Australian politics, the exclusion of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from the rollout of the nation’s 5G network on security grounds, and Australia’s call for an independent inquiry into the causes and response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Beijing imposed a series of official and unofficial trade blockades in 2020 on a range of Australian exports, including coal, wine, beef, barley and timber, worth up to 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year.

With the exception of Australian lobster exports, all trade bans have now been lifted. Trade Minister Don Farrell predicted that the restrictions would also be lifted soon after Li’s visit to Chinese Trade Minister Wang Wentao.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Li’s visit was the result of “two years of very focused and patient work by this government to stabilize relations and remove barriers to trade.”

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“We will cooperate where we can, we will disagree where we need to, and we will stand up for our national interests,” Wong told Australian Broadcasting Corp. before meeting Li for lunch.

Li’s agenda will become even more controversial when he leaves Adelaide on Monday to visit the state capital Canberra and a Chinese-controlled lithium processing plant in the resource-rich state of Western Australia on Tuesday.

Albanese has said he will raise with Li during an annual leaders’ meeting the recent clashes between the two countries’ armed forces in the South China Sea and the Yellow Sea, which Australia argues put Australian personnel at risk.

Li’s visit to Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia’s processing plant south of the Western Australian capital of Perth will underscore China’s interest in investing in critical minerals. The plant produces battery-grade lithium hydroxide for electric vehicles.

Australia shares US concerns about China’s dominance of critical minerals that are an essential component of the global transition to renewable energy sources.

Citing Australia’s national interests, Treasurer Jim Chalmers recently ordered five Chinese-linked companies to divest their stakes in rare earth mining company Northern Minerals.

When asked whether Chinese companies could invest in critical mineral processing in Australia, Wong replied that Australia’s foreign investment framework was “open to all”.

“We want to expand our critical minerals industry,” Wong said.

Australia is the second stop on Li’s tour after New Zealand and ends in Malaysia.

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