*With reporting by Alessandra Correa, BBC Brazil journalist, from Washington
The panda Mei Xiang, 25 years old; Her husband, Tian Tian, 26, and her puppy, Xiao Qi Ji, 3, left her home at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington to take a flight around the world.
Specifically, they will travel to Chengdu, China, thus ending a history of collaboration of almost 50 years.
The family of giant pandas, which had lived in the zoo since 2000 as part of a research, conservation and breeding partnership that reflected cooperation between the two countries, had to return to China after the Asian country decided not to renew the contract under which the animals were in the United States.
And something similar is happening with different zoos in the US.
Experts say that It is a reflection of what many call “panda diplomacy,” a strategy through which China sends specimens of its national animal to reflect the ties of “friendship and cooperation.”.
“Panda diplomacy was used very effectively to make China seem not only friendlier but also more familiar to the people. To, in a way, allow China to re-enter global society,” Chinese politics expert Mary Gallagher, a professor at the University of Michigan, tells the BBC.
But he adds that with China’s growing power, “panda diplomacy” is now used as an “instrument of influence.”
The first pandas
In 1972, Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai promised US First Lady Pat Nixon that he would send a pair of giant pandas to Washington.
President Richard Nixon’s trip to China represented a new beginning in the extremely limited relations that both nations had had in the last 20 years, since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, under the command of the Communist Party and its leader Mao Zedong. .
According to reports at the time, at one of the events on the official agenda, American First Lady Pat Nixon was sitting next to Zhou Enlai, and made a comment about how “cute” the pandas she had seen on a trip to the Zoo were. from Beijing.
The answer came a few months later, in April of that year: The White House presented Hsing-Hsing (male) and Ling-Ling (female) as “a gift from the people of the People’s Republic of China to the people of the United States.” and received them with a great party in the American capital.
By then, the so-called “panda diplomacy”, China’s strategy of giving bears to other countries as a way to deepen relations, already had hundreds of years of tradition.
The US government had already received a pair of puppies decades earlier, in 1941.in gratitude for American support in repelling the Japanese invasion during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
But Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling were the first pandas that communist China gave to the United States, after decades of tension and isolation, and they marked the beginning of a new phase in bilateral relations.
The pandas were sent to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, located in Washington, which had won the right to house them in a competition between institutions across the country.
In the more than 50 years since then, the zoo’s many pandas have been not only the main attraction but also a symbol of ties between the US and China.
National Treasure
Giant pandas are considered a symbol of China and a national treasure.
Historical reports suggest that the strategy of offering these animals to other governments to strengthen ties dates back to at least the 7th century, when Chinese Empress Wu Zetian (624 to 705) of the Tang Dynasty sent a pair of bears to Japan.
After the Chinese Revolution, the practice gained popularity. Initially, they were delivered to countries such as North Korea and the Soviet Union, but from the 1970s the range of recipients expanded to include capitalist governments such as the US and UK.
Over the years, “panda diplomacy” has helped China promote political and economic ties with dozens of governments, improve its image and project “soft power.”understood as the ability to influence other countries not through coercion, but through other cultural and diplomatic aspects.
Pandas have also often helped the country promote trade partnerships.
But since the 1980s, the rules have changed. Instead of giving away the animals, China began lending them, with rental contracts in which recipients pay up to $1 million a year.
The Chinese government is committed to investing this money in efforts to preserve the animals on its territory and the bamboo forests they inhabit.
Under this context, in 2000, the Washington Zoo signed a giant panda research and breeding cooperation agreement with the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Association to welcome Mei Xiang and Tian Tian.
Ling-Ling had died in 1992, and Hsing-Hsing, at the end of 1999. All of the couple’s cubs had also died within days of being born, and the zoo was in danger of running out of pandas, its main stars.
The contract provided that Mei Xiang and Tian Tian would remain for an initial period of ten years, for which the zoo paid about $10 million, an amount that was raised through private donations.
Since then, it has been renewed three times, the last time in 2020, when the term was extended until December of this year.
According to Chinese government regulations, any puppies born abroad must be returned after a few years to participate in breeding programs.and Xiao Qi Ji’s departure was expected soon, but not that of his parents.
Before him, three Mei Xiang cubs had returned to China: Tai Shan, who was born in 2005, returned to China in 2010; Bao Bao, who was born in 2013 and returned in 2017; and Bei Bei, born in 2015 and sent back in 2019.
The costs of keeping pandas They go beyond the millions of dollars paid to China and involve everything from the construction of special accommodation to their feeding, which consists of several kilos of bamboo per day.
In return, zoos gain the expectation of attracting more visitors and revenue.
Around the world, there are several panda preservation associations that help with the protection of these animals and their habitat, not only through the money allocated to these efforts in China, and this has allowed them to go from being an endangered species to extinction, to be considered as a “vulnerable” species.
It is estimated that there are just over 1,800 in the wild, in scattered populations in central China.
Changes in relationships
In addition to Washington, three other American cities received loaned pandas from China. But, after decades of renewal, these contracts are also coming to an end.
The first was the San Diego Zoo, in California, which in 2019 said goodbye to its pandas after more than 20 years of collaboration.
Recently, Other countries also had to return their pandas to China after loans expired without renewal, including Japan and the Netherlands. Others, such as the United Kingdom and Australiathey will soon have to return their bears.
The end of these partnerships comes at the same time as there is a deterioration in relations between China and Western countries, reflecting changes in Chinese foreign policy.
The list of tension points is long and includes trade disputes and the imposition of tariffs, rivalries in the technology sector, territorial conflicts in the South China Sea, accusations of espionage and human rights abuses against the Uyghur population, among others.
In addition, the rapprochement between China and Russia, in the midst of the war in Ukraine, also worries Washington.
Russia is one of the countries that recently received pandas, and had already received another pair at the Moscow Zoo in 2019, under a 15-year contract.
Mary Gallagher, from the University of Michigan, recalls that both under the leadership of President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, the US government “has said very clearly that it sees China as a major competitor and a threat to the power of USA”.
“It is not only because of (China’s) economic position, but also because of military competition in places like the South China Sea, diplomatic competition by countries in the Pacific and Latin America,” he lists.
“China’s perspective is that the US sees China’s rise as something that needs to be contained.”
The case of Ya Ya
A recent symbol of deteriorating relations was the return of the panda Ya Ya, who had lived at the Memphis, Tennessee, Zoo since 2003.
She was returned to China in April of this year, after her contract expired and amid rumors of mistreatment that spread on social media and which had to be denied by both the zoo and the Chinese government.
Since at least 2019, Photos and videos have shown Ya Ya thin and hairless, causing concern among visitors and animal advocates.
American veterinarians and experts sent from China assured that Ya Ya was well-groomed and healthy and that her patchy coat was due to skin problems and hormonal changes..
But the discontent of many Chinese continued and was further aggravated after the sudden death of panda Le Le, Ya Ya’s companion, in February this year, due to heart problems. An online campaign in China began demanding Ya Ya’s immediate return.
“It’s also possible that, given the nationalism we’ve seen on social media (in China), (the return of the pandas) has more to do with domestic politics,” Gallagher says.
The farewell
In Washington, the zoo promoted a farewell festival for the pandas, called “Panda Palooza.”
For nine days in late September, visitors enjoyed a series of musical performances, films and special activities, as well as calligraphy demonstrations and treats offered in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy.
“Millions of people grew up loving Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cubs, visiting us in Washington and watching our Panda Cam,” says zoo director Brandie Smith, referring to the camera that transmits the animals’ movements and that they follow millions of fans.
“While this farewell is bittersweet, we must celebrate these bears and their impact on fans and our understanding, care and conservation of their species.”
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