Chinese envoy Wang Xining looks on the sunny side and finds fans

Chinese Deputy Head of Mission Wang Xining at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday. Picture: Gary Ramage

Those who have lunched with China’s Wang Xining, the most discussed diplomat in Canberra, already knew he was no clumsy Wolf Warrior.

As was made clear during a dexterous performance at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Wang has got quite the brain, a flair for debating and some interesting ideas on political philosophy.

Throw in a good sense of humour and it’s no wonder he has a growing fanbase in diplomatic circles in Australia.

“It was enormously impressive,” Australia’s first ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, Stephen Fitzgerald, says of the Chinese diplomat’s performance.

And it wasn’t just the smooth delivery and his references to Plato and Adam Smith that were well received. “He tried to be constructive. That was the most interesting thing,” says Fitzgerald.

The speech — titled China and Australia: Where to from here? — was determinedly upbeat. It was delivered after a number of people in Australia’s diplomatic network were asked, on the quiet, about their opinion of China’s recent diplomacy. (The thrust of their answer: could be better.) Whatever the reason, Wang struck a different note on Wednesday. “I’d rather see the sunny side of our co-operation,” he said.

In normal times, a Canberra-based diplomat giving a speech in Australia’s capital would not get praise for simply not offending the local government and its people. These are not normal times.

“I’d give him top marks for guts and actually doing it. That was China really putting on its best face,” says Richard Rigby, a former Australian diplomat in Beijing and now emeritus professor at the ANU. “But there are clearly bounds beyond one can’t go. A diplomat has to represent his country.”

For example, the explanation for the inability of Trade Minister Simon Birmingham to get a phone call with his counterpart in Beijing didn’t convince many listening.

Wang arrived in Canberra early last year as the deputy to ambassador Cheng Jingye.

A graduate of Beijing’s China Foreign Affairs University, he came via Brussels.

For many, he first popped up on the local scene last November at The Australian’s Strategic Forum on relations with China. Next came an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A show in February.

The rise continued with Wednesday’s address on the topic engrossing Canberra’s decision-making class. He left them with plenty to discuss.

Australia’s ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, had only the day before quietly launched his embassy’s new account on the Chinese social media giant WeChat.

In Mandarin as impressive as Wang’s English, Fletcher also gave a sunny account of the bilateral relationship. “Our relationship is built on a foundation of firm friendship, many years of history and a mutually beneficial trade relationship,” he said.

So chalk up two consecutive good days for the Australian-China relationship — close to a record in 2020.