Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lands in China's medical capital Chengdu, Port Darwin stance hangs in the air

West Australian

16-07-2025

Anthony Albanese will top his China charm offensive on Thursday with panda diplomacy and spruiking Australia's prowess in the Medical Technology sector after landing in the Sichuan capital Chengdu.
Mr Albanese will tour a Cochlear manufacturing and research facility to showcase 'Australian ingenuity, inventiveness and know-how' as he enters the final leg of a six-day tour to turbocharge Australia's economic ties with its largest trading partner.
China is one of Cochlear's top five markets, having helped treat 50,000 Chinese patients with hearing loss, and the Sydney-based company launched its Chengdu production facility and international hearing research, innovation and service centre in 2021.
Australia is the world's second largest producer of Medtech patents, and the third largest medical device market in the Indo-Pacific, with more than 850 firms and a total market value exceeding $10.5 billion.
'Australian and Chinese researchers, hospitals and universities are driving remarkable progress in every field of medical technology,' Mr Albanese will tell a lunch reception of top healthcare and biomedical tech leaders, including Nobel Laureate Prof Barry Marshall, whose research has revolutionised the treatment of stomach ulcers.
Mr Albanese is the first Prime Minister to visit Chengdu since Bob Hawke in 1986, in a three-city tour that has been warmly received by a Chinese government pushing for closer trade ties with Australia as a buffer against the disruption of US trade tariffs.
However, clouds remain on the horizon.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Prime Minister was forced to dismiss suggestions Australian business could be iced out of the Chinese market over the Government's decision to put the strategic port of Darwin back into Australia's hands.
Chinese objections to Labor's election promise to overturn the awarding of a 99-year lease of the port to the Beijing-owned Landbridge group have loomed over Mr Albanese's red carpet reception this week, with state media repeatedly highlighting the controversy.
Mr Albanese on Wednesday confirmed that the sale of the port had not been raised directly with him in talks with Premier Li Qiang or Chinese President Xi Jinping, who offered a rare lunch invitation to the Prime Minister and fiancee Jodie Haydon.
Mr Li was effusive about the potential for stronger trade ties at a roundtable of Chinese and Australian business leaders in the imposing Great Hall of the People on Tuesday but alluded to the point of contention by urging Australia to create a 'non-discriminatory business environment.'
'We hope that the Australian side will treat Chinese enterprises visiting Australia fairly and properly solve the problems encountered by enterprises in market access, investment review, and other aspects,' Mr Li said.
The Global Times, a state-run media outlet, was more direct.
'At present, there are specific issues between China and Australia that need to be discussed, such as the lease of Darwin Port and the expansion of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement,' it said.
'There are also practical obstacles, especially the tendencies toward 'pan-politicisation' and 'pan-securitisation,' as well as interference from third parties,' it continued in an otherwise glowing account of Mr Albanese's trip so far.
Asked during a press conference on the Great Wall of China on Wednesday if he was prepared for Australia to be put back into the deep freeze on the issue, Mr Albanese responded with a straight, 'the answer is no'.
The Prime Minister's trip has been centred on repairing business and trade ties after a diplomatic spat under the Morrison government triggered a series of damaging import bans on key commodities, which have since been lifted.
Labor has stressed, however, that it will not budge over the cancelling of the Landbridge lease for national security reasons.
Mr Albanese told reporters that this was a longheld position 'shouldn't come as any surprise.'
However, Chinese officials have protested against changes made to the Foreign Investment Review Board under the previous Government after the port lease was awarded to a Chinese-state owned operator by the Northern Territory authorities.
The Government has rejected Beijing's suggestions that Chinese companies are unfairly targeted by rules requiring greater scrutiny in sensitive investment areas.
Ahead of Mr Albanese's trip, the Government indicated it would not be prepared to ease restrictions or to accede to Chinese requests for greater cooperation on artificial intelligence capabilities.
'We have a case by case issue when it comes to foreign investment,' said Mr Albanese. 'It is viewed not on the basis of any one country, but on the basis of an objective assessment of our national interest.'
He added, 'One of the things that I emphasise - I say the same thing in Beijing as I say in Bankstown - which is that the Australian Government supports free and fair trade. It's in the interests of the world to have free and fair trade, and we'll continue to engage that way.'
The Prime Minister also revealed Communist Party Chairman Zhao Leji had agreed to an invitation to lead a National People's Congress delegation to Australia.
'It is very clear that it is in our national interest for us to have a positive relationship with China, where there are differences, to talk about them, but not be defined by them,' he said.
Later on Wednesday afternnon, the Prime Minister donned his Akubra hat and to battle stifling humidity at the Sichuan International Tennis Centre, where he oversaw an announcement that the city will host the Asia-Pacific Wild Card Playoffs for the 2026 Australian Open.
There was 'no better way' to improve people to people and cultural links between Australia and China than the iconic Australian Open, Mr Albanese told an audience including Australian Open Champion John Fitzgerald, Tennis Australia's Vicki Reid, Governor Shi Xiaolin and rows of young tennis players.