Panda diplomacy on display as PM winds down state visit to China
With 260 of the furry friends, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding houses one third of China's total panda population in captivity — a source of pride for the city, with monuments to the bamboo-loving creatures scattered across the metropolis.
After a couple of days of high stakes, high-level talks in Beijing, the Prime Minister was all smiles when confronted with the centre's occupants, including Fu Ni, who spent 15 years as a star attraction at Adelaide Zoo before being returned to China in November.
'They're beautiful animals,' Mr Albanese remarked to his guide as he watched an adolescent panda snack on a bamboo shoot.
The visit to the research base came nearly 40 years after former prime minister Bob Hawke visited the same facility and secured Australia's first panda lease.
It made Australia the first and only country in the Southern Hemisphere to have Chinese pandas.
In brief comments to media, Mr Albanese said he was 'feeling the friendship between Australia and China'.
'They are great ambassadors for China and a great sign of friendship,' he said.
'The fact that Adelaide Zoo has the only pandas in the Southern Hemisphere is a sign of friendship between our two countries.'
Mr Albanese lauded Chinese counterpart Li Qiang for deciding to lease another two pandas to Adelaide Zoo during his state visit to Australia last year.
The new pandas arrived at their new home earlier this year.
Mr Albanese has been keen to follow in the steps of past Labor legends on his trade-touting trip, visiting on Wednesday the same section of the Great Wall as Gough Whitlam did some 50 years ago.
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