Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has toured a panda breeding facility in the final stages of an extended state visit that has cast China as a fellow champion of a global fair trade system under threat from the United States.

Canberra is close to an agreement with Beijing that would allow Australian suppliers to ship five trial canola cargoes to China, sources familiar with the matter said, a move towards ending a years-long freeze in the trade.

Sky News host Cheng Lei says China's continuation of its live fire drills in the Australian region shows “where the power dynamic” lies. “We are the most China trade-dependent middle power, but does Australia know who China really is?

The skunk at Albanese’s party was Trump’s top policy official in the Pentagon, Elbridge Colby, with demands that Australia commit to joint war planning over Taiwan as part of the AUKUS deal to buy US nuclear-powered submarines.

Major miner BHP has said it is too costly for Australia to build a "green iron" industry after the country and China agreed this week to jointly work to decarbonise the steel supply chain, responsible for nearly a tenth of global emissions.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for more joint endeavors between Chinese and Australian medical technology researchers during his third stop in his China visit. He has attended a Medical Technology lunch in Chengdu on Thursday promoting bilateral business deals in the space,

China and Australia vowed on Tuesday to enhance bilateral ties, and work together to uphold multilateralism and free trade and jointly cope with global challenges amid the transformation and turbulence in the international landscape.

During the Cold War, China gave pandas to strategic allies. Now it loans them out, but isn’t afraid to use them as punishment.