Canberra (AFP) - Chinese Premier Li Qiang received a grand ceremonial welcome at Australia’s parliament on Monday, the prelude to thorny talks expected to raise recent military confrontations and rising regional tensions.

Police beefed up security in a bid to head off trouble as Li arrived, standing in the middle of chanting human rights protesters and banner-waving pro-China groups.

Metal barriers were erected in front of parliament to keep the two sides apart.

A brass band played as Li inspected a military honour guard on the forecourt of Parliament House, the 19-gun artillery salute only briefly drowning out the noisy crowds gathered on the manicured lawns nearby.

The highest-ranking Chinese official to visit since 2017, Li has used the trip to highlight trade, friendship and China’s love for Australian products like red wine.

But Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to broach far trickier points of geopolitical tension and “national interest” when they meet behind closed doors in Canberra later on Monday.

One of the most pressing issues in Australia’s eyes is the plight of jailed dissident writer Yang Hengjun.

- Symbolic gestures -

A dual Chinese-Australian citizen, Yang was handed a suspended death sentence in February after a Beijing court found him guilty on espionage charges seen by many as politically motivated.

Yang’s supporters penned a public letter on the eve of Li’s arrival in Canberra, urging Albanese to push for his immediate release to Australia.

Australia has also chastised China’s military in recent months for its “unacceptable” and “unsafe” behaviour in international skies and waters, and has called for restraint in the South China Sea.

Despite these grievances, University of Sydney researcher Minglu Chen said Australia would be careful to smooth over public criticisms of its largest trading partner.

“I don’t know if all the problems on the security side will just disappear overnight,” she told AFP.

“But I think this visit still has a symbolic meaning. Which is sending a good gesture, and for China to show the outside world it is still willing to embrace foreign countries.”

While regional security is likely to remain a sore point between Canberra and Beijing, relations are far warmer when it comes to trade.

“Mutual respect, seeking common ground while shelving differences and mutually beneficial cooperation” are key to the relationship, Li said at the outset of his Australian tour.

- Pandas and wine -

In the depths of a bitter dispute in 2020, China slapped trade barriers worth billions of dollars on Australian coal, timber, wine, barley, beef and rock lobster.

Most of these trade bars have since been dismantled.

“I think this is really an important signifier that China and Australia’s relationship has moved away from its historical low,” said Chen.

“It’s moving towards a more positive direction.”

Li is nearing the end of a six-day tour of New Zealand and Australia.

He spent Sunday in the state of South Australia, viewing the pandas at Adelaide Zoo and lunching at a historic vineyard on the outskirts of the city that had been hit by China’s sanctions.

Li announced China would loan new “adorable” giant pandas to replace popular pair Wang Wang and Fu Ni at Adelaide Zoo.

The longstanding Adelaide pandas, which have failed to produce offspring since their arrival in 2009, will return to China by the end of the year.

“I guess they must have missed their home a lot,” the Chinese premier said.