Beijing first used this ‘soft power’ tool with Washington in February 1972 and presented Richard Nixon with giant panda pair of Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling
Fifty years this month, China began its ‘panda diplomacy’ with the United States of America.
It began in 1972 during a visit to China of then president Richard Nixon and a vow from Mao Zedong to send two pandas to an American zoo.
China has repeatedly used this tactic as a diplomatic tool with the Soviet Union, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom.
Here’s a closer look at ‘panda diplomacy’:
History of ‘panda diplomacy’
Gift-giving is quite normal in diplomatic practice.
Animals, particularly where they hold a unique national significance, have long been associated with the most famous diplomatic gifts over time. And in the context of winning hearts and minds, “cuteness” also matters. Australian koalas, also used for diplomatic impact, provide another popular example.
When it comes to pandas, Tang Dynasty records date the practice to the 7th Century, when Empress Wu Zetian is believed to have presented two “bear-like beasts”, thought to be pandas, to the Japanese court.
However, this practice was regularised in the 1950s.
In 1957, China gifted Ping Ping to the Soviet Union for being the first to establish of diplomatic relations with the Peoples Republic of China. Just two years later, a second giant panda, An An was sent as Ping Ping’s pair.
Experts note that the animals function as goodwill ambassadors and also helps soften the nation’s authoritarian picture and distract from the nation’s report on human right abuses.
As written earlier, the first instance of panda diplomacy with Washington occurred in 1972 with Nixon’s visit to Beijing and through this America received its first giant panda pair, Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling. The high-profile gesture of diplomatic rapprochement was reciprocated, to a degree, by Nixon’s gift to Beijing of two musk oxen.
From gifting to loaning
Realising their panda numbers were dropping in the 1980s, the Chinese government modified their policy of gifting pandas to loaning them to nations around the world.
Not only did this method help with diplomacy but was also profitable from an economic standpoint. Pandas were loaned out on a 10-year renewable basis at a significant cost to the host nation.
According to reports, host nations must not only meet strict requirements for the care and accommodation of the pandas, but also pay up to $1 million per year for the same. There is an additional substantial fee levied for any panda cubs born during the loan period.
File image of China’s president Xi Jinping and German chancellor Angela Merkel watch Jiao Qing, one of the two new pandas during the welcoming ceremony for two panda bears at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin. AFP
Panda diplomacy with many countries
China has involved in panda diplomacy with several countries.
Today, pandas are found in some 20 countries, with the most recent panda pair loan being made in 2019 to Denmark’s Copenhagen Zoo.
Channel News Asia in a report also stated that panda loans have been on the rise since Xi Jinping became president, keeping his ambition of ‘going global’ in mind.
In 2017, three-year-old Meng Meng and seven-year-old Jiao Qing were loaned to Berlin’s Tierpark Zoo for the next 15 years at an annual cost of $1 million.
Similarly, China had loaned two pandas — Ershun and Damao — to Canada in 2013. They were to stay in the Toronto Zoo and the Calgary Zoo under the agreement. In October 2015, Ershun gave birth to a pair of panda babies. Ershun and Damao moved to the Calgary Zoo in 2018 and in 2020, returned home to China.
Benefits of panda diplomacy
Experts note that there’s nothing random about the timing of the panda deals which often coincide with beneficial trade deals.
For example, pandas arrived in Canada, France and Australia following significant bilateral uranium export deals with China.
Kathleen Buckingham at Oxford University, UK, in a BBC report said, “The panda can be used to seal the deal and signify a bid for a long and prosperous relationship. If a panda is given to the country, it does not signify the closing of a deal – they have entrusted an endangered, precious animal to the country; it signifies in some ways a new start to the relationship.”
File image of male giant panda cub Xiao Qi Ji in a tree at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC. AFP
When panda diplomacy went awry
In early 2014, the disappearance of flight MH370, which had atleast 150 Chinese passengers onboard, caused friction with Malaysia. The Chinese government and people felt that Malaysia had messed the investigation up. China reportedly postponed the arrival of two pandas that were to spend 10 years at a Kuala Lumpur zoo, in order to express its dissatisfaction with the way things were going.
Eventually the pandas did make it to Malaysia, albeit after a month’s delay.
In 2010, two panda cubs were recalled early from the United States. While they were always going to be returned, some reports suggested the early repatriation reflected China’s displeasure at then President Barack Obama’s announcement that he would meet the Dalai Lama.
The return in 2018 and 2019 of pandas Gao Gao and Bai Yun from their adopted home in San Diego also took place amid deteriorating Sino-US relations under US President Trump. However, zoo officials maintain the pandas were returned, while they were still in sufficiently good health, to live out their final years in China.
Also, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo has announced that pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian would return to China at the end of 2023, seven years ahead of schedule. This could also be in view of the deteriorating ties between the US and China.
With inputs from agencies
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