Anthony Albanese urged to appeal to Chinese Premier Li Qiang for release of Australian Dr Yang Hengjun

Anthony Albanese is being urged reject Beijing’s “panda propaganda” and use talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang to secure the release of a jailed Australian pro-democracy writer.

Anthony Albanese is being urged reject Beijing’s “panda propaganda” and use talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang to secure the release of a jailed Australian pro-democracy writer.

As Mr Li began his visit with sightseeing at the Adelaide Zoo on Sunday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong issued a blistering assessment of China’s military activity in the region, describing Taiwan as one of the world’s “riskiest flashpoints” for conflict.

Despite Labor’s insistence it has not been “kowtowing” to China to secure the end of trade sanctions on exports worth $20 billion, security experts and supporters of Australian academic Dr Yang Hengjun are calling on the federal government go further in lobbying of Beijing over a range of human rights and military concerns.

Mr Albanese will host Mr Li and his 200-strong contingent for the annual leaders meeting at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday, where security has been tightened in anticipation of large anti- and pro-China protests.

Temporary wire fencing has been constructed around public walkways and roads leading to parliament, which one source said was to prevent a repeat of the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch relay when pro-Tibet protesters reported being “heavied” by Chinese students.

Wang Wang the panda chews a box as South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas and China's Premier Li Qiang listen to a zoo ranger at the Adelaide Zoo. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake / AFP

As Mr Li announced China would be loaning two new pandas to the Adelaide Zoo, anti-Chinese Communist Party protesters outside waved Uyghur, Tibetan and Hong Kong flags and yelled slogans like “human lives over profit”.

Mr Li has described the China-Australia relationship as “back on track,” and advocated for “shelving differences” between the nations.

Chinese Premier Li talks to keepers holding marsupials during his visit to the panda enclosure at Adelaide Zoo. Picture: NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

But Ms Wong has not used the term “shelve,” instead saying the goal of “stabilisation” was to ensure Australia could engage with China to “deal with” differences.

Ms Wong said Australia was “deeply concerned” about Beijing’s military actions in the Taiwan Strait, which increased the “risk of miscalculation” or a “mistake”.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong shakes hands with China's Premier Li Qiang as South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas looks on Adelaide Zoo on June 16, 2024 in Adelaide, Australia. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

She also vowed the government would continue to advocate for Dr Yang and said the “world does look to China” to “use its influence” to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Supporters of Dr Yang, who was handed a suspended death sentence in China earlier this year, have called on Mr Albanese to use his meeting with Mr Li to “directly demand” the academic’s release on medical parole or transfer to Australia.

Dr Yang Hengjun has been jailed in Beijing.

In a statement they said Dr Yang was a “political prisoner” falsely accused of espionage, but really jailed for his writings “in support of individual freedoms, constitutional democracy and rule-of-law”.

It is understood Dr Yang’s immediate family has refrained from public comment since the sentencing in February in hopes of the decision being overturned, but a review upheld the punishment late last month.

Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge said Australia could not “shelve” its differences with China, when the latter continued to jail citizens, hack government and corporate organisations and endanger the lives of ADF personnel.

“Looking at the panda propaganda and toasting with wine, the harder the Albanese Government tries to make Premier Li’s visit wholly positive event, the more jarring it is,” he said.

Supporters of Chinese Premier Li Qiang hold Australian and Chinese flags as they wait for his arrival at Magill Estate winery in Adelaide. Picture: NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

Mr Shoebridge said fencing off protesters and allowing Mr Li to forego any press conference with Australian media went against the nation’s democratic principles.

“Why is our government is creating a new normal where when foreign leaders visit Australia that they have no engagement with our democracy,” he said.

Australia is also expecting the removal of trade impediments on seafood exports, the last sector still impacted by China’s campaign of economic coercion launched in the wake of the Morrison Government’s call for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.

Wine, barley, timber and coal are among the exports that have resumed entering China, which Trade Minister Don Farrell said had been achieved without “kowtowing” to the Chinese Government.

Originally published as Anthony Albanese urged to appeal to Chinese Premier Li Qiang for release of Australian Dr Yang Hengjun