The Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s recent state visit to Australia’s Parliament House prompted demonstrators—both those who support and those who are opposed to China—to gather in Canberra to register their opinions.
Reports have emerged that some of the anti-China protesters were roughly treated by the AFP (Australian Federal Police), giving rise to public scandal. This sense of scandal was compounded when Chinese state employees who are traveling with Li used their bodies to prevent an Australian journalist—one who had previously suffered imprisonment at the hands of China’s authoritarian regime—from appearing in the same camera frame as Li.
Li, as the Chinese Premier, is second in rank only to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Li’s visit marks the first official state visit to Australia by a Premier in seven years. His arrival on Saturday the 15th was followed by a visit to the Adelaide Zoo on Monday, where he made a speech promising a the public that a new pair of giant pandas would arrive soon to fill out the zoo’s collection. This is an example of what has become “panda diplomacy,” whereby China uses the loan—or withdrawal—of pandas to express its anger, to make overtures, or to soothe damaged relations between itself and other countries.
Adelaide is the capitol city of the state of South Australia. A significant portion of its economy depends on the export of wine to China. In 2020, the region took a serious hit in 2020 when Chinese-imposed tariffs—some north of 200 percent– brought the $800 million trade to a screeching halt, along with similar effective bans on Australian lobster, beef, lumber, coal, and other products.
The tariffs were a response to the Australian government’s insistence on pursuing a line of inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 which the Chinese government didn’t wish to discuss, and tensions escalated several times since then. The latest visit is a move to repair damaged relations between the countries.