The official invitation for Penny Wong came only a fortnight ago but has been months in the making.
At the Chinese embassy on December 9, it was the best Canberra day in months. The sun was shining, the temperature was warm and the diplomatic community was out in force.
While on the surface it seemed like a snub, both sides knew of a bigger moment in the works. Behind the scenes, preparations were underway between China’s communist regime and the government for Wong to visit Beijing, on the pretext of marking the date of the actual anniversary – this week on Wednesday – of the Whitlam government’s formalisation of ties with Mao Zedong’s China.
Desperate for an off-ramp after two years of economic coercion and hectoring had failed to break the Morrison government, Chinese officials have put much stock in the symbolism of the 50th anniversary.In his first comments after arriving in Australia in January, Xiao praised the “pioneering spirit of statesmanship” shown five decades ago.
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