Fifty years ago, Gough Whitlam visited the Temple of Heaven in Beijing as part of a historic visit to China to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic.
Whitlam’s visit to the Beijing landmark produced an iconic image. In the photograph, the newly elected Australian prime minister is captured with his ear to the circular Echo Wall in the world heritage site. In the background, the Australian prime minister is watched by Stephen Fitzgerald, Australia’s first ambassador to China.
Five decades later, Australia has a substantial diplomatic presence in the Chinese capital and, despite the troubles of recent years, China remains Australia’s largest trading partner. Australia’s current prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will visit the Beijing imperial landmark – the site where emperors prayed for a good harvest – on Monday morning as a homage to Whitlam’s journey in 1973.
Albanese arrived in the Chinese capital on Sunday evening, flying through turbulent weather from Shanghai. Australia’s prime minister was greeted at the Beijing Capital international airport by Australia’s current ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, and China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian.
Albanese’s arrival in Shanghai on Saturday night had been relaxed. In Beijing, the assembled welcoming party at the airport projected state power. The prime minister disembarked his aircraft to meet a cordon of more than 20 Chinese military personnel lining the route to his car, and the flags of Australia and China lined the route to the city. The flags fluttered in blustery, cold winds.
The prime minister had a packed schedule in Shanghai on Sunday; he attended the opening session of the China International Import expo before meeting Australian and Chinese business leaders and attending a reception hosted by Tourism Australia later in the afternoon.
Albanese has been studiously polite to his hosts. But he used his remarks in Shanghai to deliver an implicit rebuke to China for its strong-arm tactics during Beijing’s protracted trade war with Canberra. With the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, watching on, Albanese noted there was an important role “for government to play in creating the right conditions for business to innovate and thrive, and helping business take advantage of market opportunities”.
Minutes earlier, the Chinese premier had used his opening address to the country’s largest international trade show to declare China was “resolutely opposed to unilateralism and protectionism and [would] firmly uphold the authority and the effectiveness of the multilateral trading system”. This from a country that had imposed punitive unilateral trade sanctions on Australian exports at the height of the damaging bilateral trade war with Australia.
Some of those sanctions remain in place. During a tour of Australian exhibits at the trade fair late in the afternoon, Albanese made a show of holding a lobster aloft for the cameras. China lifted tariffs on Australian barley in August and agreed to review the sanctions imposed on Australian wine producers in late October – but sanctions on rock lobsters remain.
Shortly after his arrival in the Chinese capital, Albanese said he was looking forward to constructive discussions with China’s president, Xi Jinping, on Monday. “It’s very good to be back in Beijing,” the prime minister told travelling reporters. “[I look forward to] further constructive dialogue, and further advancement of the friendship between our two great nations.”
The elaborate choreography of rapprochement between Canberra and Beijing will reach its zenith on Monday. Albanese will be received by the Chinese leadership at the seat of power in the capital. After paying homage both to his hosts and one of his important domestic political mentors at the Temple of Heaven, the prime minister will travel to the Great Hall of the People for official meetings with Chairman Zhao Leji, the third-ranking person in the leadership hierarchy, and then for a one-on-one conversation with President Xi.
Albanese will be listening intently to the message from the Chinese leadership – not only in the spirit of Whitlam at the Temple of Heaven, but also as a prime minister seeking a reboot in an important relationship.
