On January 21, 2025, Ambassador Xiao Qian attended the Welcome Ceremony for giant pandas “Xing Qiu” and “Yi Lan” in Adelaide. The event was attended by Li Dong, Consul General of China in Adelaide, Don Farrell, representative of the Prime Minister and Australia’s Trade Minister, Peter Malinauskas, Premier of South Australia, and Yan Jian, Secretary-General of China Wildlife Conservation Association, with over 200 other local guests and “panda lovers”.
In his remarks, Ambassador Xiao spoke highly of the successful cooperation between China and Australia in giant panda conservation. He said, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Australia and the establishment of China-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the new panda collaboration is a significant outcome of Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Australia, which embodies the goodwill of the Chinese government and people and their expectations for a more fruitful China-Australia relationship.
Minister Farrell and Premier Malinauskas both delivered speeches, expressing their best wishes for the future development of relations between the two countries.
At such a vibrant and bustling venue, Ambassador Xiao and Premier Malinauskas jointly cut the ribbon for the debut of the new pair of giant pandas and met with the press together.