China's premier Li Qiang has begun his trip to Australia with some panda diplomacy. He's announced that two new giant pandas will be heading to Adelaide Zoo, generating plenty of delight in South Australia. But the visit will shift to more difficult terrain when Premier Li sits down for official talks with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra.
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00:00Some gifts are impossible to refuse.
00:07Adelaide's famous panda pair, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, have won hearts but failed to create
00:13any precious offspring.
00:14Enter China's second most senior leader with a goodwill gesture.
00:18What I want to tell you is that we will provide a new pair of equally beautiful, lovely and
00:27adorable pandas.
00:31An easy bid for hearts and minds.
00:34Can I say how grateful we are for your generous offer?
00:40It's a rare gift but one that comes at little cost to Beijing.
00:45And its critics here say Australia's focus should remain squarely on repression in China.
00:52Ever since 1949 there has been a genocide happening in China to the Uyghurs.
00:58But for today both sides were keen to emphasise the positive.
01:01The Premier also visiting an Adelaide winery.
01:04Peter is the finest winemaker in Australia.
01:10Sipping Australian red which is now flowing back into China after Beijing lifted crippling
01:16tariffs.
01:17It comes after two years of very deliberate, very patient work by this government to bring
01:23about a stabilisation of the relationship.
01:26The symbolism of the trip to the winery cuts both ways.
01:30Labor wants to highlight how stabilisation has ended Beijing's campaign of trade punishment,
01:35bringing real benefits to the industries which were slugged.
01:39But it also simultaneously highlights how China has been willing to use economic coercion
01:44against Australia, a decision which has profoundly shaped the government's attitudes towards
01:50it.
01:51The Premier winging his way to the capital.
01:57We want the Australian government to ensure that human rights is not swept under the carpet.
02:02As ever with China there are choices and trade-offs, few of them easy.