The Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia is the

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, Australia. The Nationalist Chinese Embassy had existed in Canberra since sometime before 1951. After it was dismantled and staff departed Canberra in January 1973, the first Embassy of the People's Republic of China (hereafter known as the Chinese embassy) in Australia was established in 1973, with an advance party arriving in February of that year. The embassy had its official opening on 8 March 1973, with 14 staff arriving in May of that year. Wang Kuo-chuan, who was announced as ambassador on 16 March, arrived in Canberra on 9 May 1973. He was admitted to a Canberra hospital for an unstated illness in September 1973. The embassy moved to a new building in 1990, which references ancient Chinese architecture. The building was designed by Guangzhou Architectural Design Institute and the Wulu Company, Hong Kong, and includes a main building, ambassador's residence, staff residence, swimming pool, and tennis court. Craftsmen were brought from

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

to build the roof, made with roof tiles imported from

Yixing Yixing () is a county-level city administered under the prefecture-level city of Wuxi in southern Jiangsu province, China, and is part of the Yangtze Delta, Yangtze River Delta. The city is known for its traditional Yixing ware, Yixing clay ware t ...

. There are extensive gardens, with an ornamental lake, pavilion, and rockeries. The new embassy, situated in the diplomatic estate of Yarralumla near

Parliament House Parliament House may refer to: Meeting places of parliament Australia * Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia * Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament of South Australia * Parliament House, Brisbane, Parliament of Queensland * P ...

, was opened without fanfare on 10 August. In 1995, ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' and

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

revealed that, during the construction of the new building in the late 1980s, members of the

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is the Intelligence agency, domestic intelligence and national security agency of the Australian Government, responsible for protection from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign inte ...

and the American

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

had covertly installed bugging devices in the building. Despite government attempts to stop the story being published using a

D Notice In the United Kingdom, D-Notices, officially known since 2015 as DSMA-Notices (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notices), are official requests to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national sec ...

, this proved ineffective and the story was published anyway. , a new embassy building was under construction, after the

Chinese Government The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a Unitary state, unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's ...

had secured an agreement with the Australian Government to have the building built by Chinese construction workers domiciled in China. Some controversy arose after it was revealed that China had negotiated a deal with the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

to exempt building labourers from Australian workplace laws. Paul Daley wrote in his 2013 book about Canberra: "Beijing's growing presence in this highly symbolic part of the city seems an appropriate, if unwelcome, reflection of Australia's international diplomatic, defence and trade priorities". In 2024,

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an and

Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...

activists protested outside the embassy when Chinese Foreign Minister

Wang Yi Wang Yi ( zh, s=王毅, p=Wáng Yì; born 19 October 1953) is a Chinese diplomat and politician who has been serving as Director of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office since January 2023, and ...

visited Australia. , the embassy remains in the 1990 building.

References

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Australia–China relations Buildings and structures completed in 1990