Why China's panda diplomacy has sharp edges

Hello, it's Will Glasgow, the Australia's North Asia Correspondent, coming to you from Chengdu, from the world-famous Panda Breeding Centre. Look at this guy. Now, the Prime Minister's just done a walkabout of here. As he's said repeatedly, he is a pro-panda Prime Minister. He's just done a walkabout of this facility with his fiancée, Jodi. That makes him the first Prime Minister since 1986 to be in Chengdu, when Bob Hawke was here as Prime Minister. It continues the Labor homage the PM's doing, really amping up Labor's relations with China on this trip. This is the day after, of course, he did his walk on the Great Wall following Gough Whitlam's footsteps, as he pointed out. Now, we're here at this Panda Centre because China's been using its panda diplomacy, as it does, to try to warm things up with Australia. Two pandas loaned to the Adelaide Zoo last year were one of the centrepieces of Premier Li's visit at the end of the year to Australia. One of them was raised here, actually. One of the two that came back from Adelaide Zoo, it was sort of a panda swap. The two came back, another two was sent. One of them that's been recalled is here now, and the Prime Minister popped by to have a look and see how that one was going. Now, for the PM, he's making a lot of this, saying that the pandas show the warm ties between Australia and China, or how much they've improved since he's come into power. That's certainly true. China does use its pandas in that way. However, even China's cuddly panda diplomacy has sharp edges. Interestingly, on this trip, it wasn't pointed out by the staff, but the Prime Minister began in front of a panda who came from Canada, Da Mao. Now, that panda was sent to Canada in 2013 and recalled in 2020. That was as the Canadian-Chinese relationship was in a tailspin. Frankly, it's still near the freezer, and Canada hasn't got any pandas since. The Chinese government said it came back for COVID restriction reasons. They claimed there was an inability to get bamboo or something for the panda. No one believed it. It seemed a pointed signal at Canada that if it didn't improve ties with Beijing, no pandas for Ottawa. So, just a reminder there, even on this cuddly part of the PM's agenda, that when it comes to China, there's always a bit more going beyond the surface.