Panda-mania: PM gushes over 'great friend of Australia'
In Chengdu, capital of the southwest province of Sichuan, the prime minister was reacquainted with an old "friend of Australia", Fu Ni.
The 18-year-old female panda returned to China in 2024 after spending 15 years as one of the star attractions at Adelaide Zoo.
"A great ambassador for China and a great friend of Australia," Mr Albanese said as he watched her chew a stick of bamboo.
Fu Ni and her former partner Wang Wang were loaned to Australia by China in an example of "panda diplomacy".
The practice dates back centuries but in recent decades has been used by the ruling Chinese Communist Party to exert soft power across the globe.
When Beijing is happy with you, you get pandas.
But if relations sour, they always have the option to take them back, as Canada and the UK have learned to their detriment in recent years.
In 2024, when Fu Ni and Wang Wang's time was up, Premier Li Qiang loaned two new pandas to Australia - Li Yan and Xing Qiu.
Mr Albanese hailed Mr Li's "gracious" decision to extend the panda relationship.
"They are absolutely wonderful animals. Our Adelaide Zoo pandas are a sign of friendship between Australia and China," he told reporters on Thursday.
The prime minister's "very positive and warm" reception on his six-day trip shows how far the mood has recovered since the breakdown in Sino-Australian relations in 2020.
Chinese state media has covered Mr Albanese's visit in glowing terms, with the Global Times describing the relationship as "a plane flying in the 'stratosphere' after passing through the storm zone".
His visit to Chengdu, a provincial hub home to 21 million people is best known as the home of giant pandas, is the first by an Australian prime minister since Bob Hawke in 1986.
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