Anthony Albanese gets star treatment in China but he will return home to backlash over US relations ‘in peril’

Anthony Albanese received a rock star welcome in China this week, but he faces mounting criticism at home as the Opposition slams an “indulgent” trip that neglects Australia’s relations with the US at a perilous time.

But in a sign of a brewing stoush when parliament meets next week for the first time since the Federal election, Mr Albanese hit back at what he said was the Coalition’s failed policy on China when in government.

“If you compare the difference of this visit with the failure of the Coalition during the last term, during the term in which I was opposition leader, they didn’t have a phone conversation between a single minister in Australia and our major trading partner,” he said.

“When we look at these things in perspective, what we’ve had is constructive engagement.”

Mr Albanese’s messaging and lengthy stay in China have been praised by an effusive state media and warmly received by the Chinese top brass Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Communist Party Chairman Zhao Leji who welcomed him with an honour guard at the prestigious Great Hall of the People on Wednesday.

But his soft diplomacy drive has been divisive back home.

The strategy was slammed on Thursday by shadow finance minister James Paterson who said that while the Coalition had provided bipartisan support for the Government’s trade mission to China, the visit was now starting to look “a little bit indulgent”.

“I do wonder whether a Gough Whitlam history tour on the Great Wall of China, whether a visit to Chengdu to pose with some pandas, and whether a hit of tennis is strictly necessary as part of a six-day visit to China when there is so much else at stake in our other international relationships around the world,” he said.

Senator Paterson argued that the appropriate time to do a “nostalgic history tour of Labor Party mythology” was in retirement and not after failing to meet the US President for 250 days after his election.

“We have profoundly serious issues at stake in that bilateral relationship as well, including potentially tariffs on one of our largest export industries to the United States, pharmaceuticals,” he said.

Mr Paterson also said AUKUS, the $368 billion security agreement with the US and UK to deliver nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, was “potentially in peril” because the Prime Minister had failed to establish a personal rapport with US President Donald Trump.

The trilateral pact is under review, led by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, to establish whether the deal falls in line with the Trump administration’s “America First” policy.

Senator Paterson said this merited an “all-out diplomatic charm offensive” with Mr Colby and the President.

“But right now the Prime Minister doesn’t seem to have any sense of urgency about this at all. And I’m worried that this appears to be calculated neglect, not just accidental, not just indifference,” he said.

“The Prime Minister, perhaps out of some misguided belief that there’s a domestic political advantage for him in keeping a distance with the Trump administration, is neglecting our most important security relationship at a most perilous time.”

Mr Albanese hit back with his own broadside that the Coalition were undermining Australia’s relationship with China, describing his visit as “very successful” and “constructive” in terms of “advancing national interests”.

He said the trip had created more understanding of where the two nations stood.

“Out of understanding can come greater cooperation,” Mr Albanese added, defending his decision to visit the Great Wall on Wednesday as a mark of respect to the Chinese people.

The Prime Minister has raised national security concerns with the Chinese government but also leaned into soft diplomacy as a tactic to strengthen regional peace and security, stressing the importance of “people to people” ties and building trust between leaders as an effective way to boost security.

Mr Albanese and his fiancée Jodie Haydon visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding on Thursday for a light-hearted interlude with the playful residents at the start of the last leg of a six-day tour of three major cities to turbocharge economic cooperation with China.

He is the first leader to visit the provincial capital of 21 million since Bob Hawke’s trip in 1986 but unlike the former Prime Minister’s awkward hug with wriggling bear cubs, he was only able to observe the endangered animals in their enclosures.

The Prime Minister was still captivated by Fu Ni, an 18-year-old panda dispatched to Adelaide with companion Wang Wang in 2009, coinciding with bilateral free-trade talks.

Pandas have been an instrument of Chinese diplomacy since the Tang dynasty and the gifting, or withdrawing, of the affable creatures has often mapped the rollercoaster of Beijing’s relations with other countries.

Australia is clearly on the up after the replacement of Fu Ni and Wang Wang with Xing Qiu and Yi Lan, who debuted in January 2025 as the only pandas in the Southern Hemisphere.

Mr Albanese gave a nod to panda diplomacy as he praised Fu Ni as a “great ambassador” and a “great sign of friendship” between the two countries. The non-plussed bear munched an apple as it gazed back at the spectacle of a media scrum in the sweltering humidity.

The short tour of the enclosure marked the apex of Mr Albanese’s soft power push as he has charged between Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu on a mission to promote greater bilateral cooperation on business, tourism and sport.

The Prime Minister rounded off his trip on Thursday afternoon with a tour of the Cochlear manufacturing and research facility that has helped transform the lives of more than 50,000 Chinese patients suffering hearing loss.

Mr Albanese praised the Sydney-based company for making an “incredible difference” by bringing its revolutionary bionic ear technology to China, one of its top five markets.

“Giving people hearing for the first time is something for those of us who are not hearing impaired, an extraordinary thing,” he said.

“We as Australians should be really proud of our scientists, our medical breakthroughs, as well as, of course, recognising that there are opportunities which are commercial, which flow from that.

“That’s not the objective. Of course, the objective is to make people’s lives better, and that is what companies like that have certainly done.”