With pandas in the middle, China returns to a new diplomatic era with the United States and the world

For China, lending its famous and rare pandas is a form of diplomacy that it has been developing for 70 years. There “panda diplomacy », calls the international press. And thanks to an agreement between the China Wildlife Conservation Association and the National Zoo in Washington, the United States could welcome more of these animals recently pulled from the danger of extinction, after a strong conservation policy from Beijing.

Besides the United States, Spain and Austria could receive new specimens of symbolic animals for China and its diplomacy. According to the Reuters news agency, the delivery of pandas to the United States would mean an improvement in diplomatic relations between the two superpowers.

Last November, the The National Zoo in Washington has returned three pandas to China after 50 years of caring for them and displaying them to the public. which left Zoo Atlanta, Georgia, as the only zoo in the United States to house specimens of giant pandas.

The same month, Mary Gallagher, a professor at the University of Michigan, told As that “Panda diplomacy was used very effectively to make China appear not only friendlier, but also more familiar to the people. . To, in a way, allow China to reintegrate into global society.”

But that deal expires this year, so a new agreement would prevent the North American nation from running out of pandas, which hasn’t happened since 1972, when the Chinese government delivered two after the former president’s historic visit Richard Nixon in China. where he even met Mao Zedong in the middle of the Cold War.

“Relevant Chinese institutions signed agreements with the Madrid Zoo in Spain and the San Diego Zoo in the United States on a new round of international cooperation for the protection of giant pandas. “, declared Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this Thursday during a series of questions to the press.

“They are also working with the Washington National Zoo in the United States and (Vienna Zoo) in Austria to actively negotiate and launch a new round of cooperation,” he added.

With this, the return of “panda diplomacy ” after the removal of all three copies in November, which Dennis Wilder, senior fellow at the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University, said could be interpreted as a sign of annoyance with to the tense situation in Taiwan, he told France 24 that day.

“The Chinese are angry with us (Americans). They are angry about the restrictions on semiconductors, the number of sanctions the Biden administration has imposed on them and the difficulties they now face obtaining visas for the United States. So it is very possible that they are trying to send a signal “. He added: “The Chinese could remove their pandas from Western zoos. “I don’t see them doing the same thing in places like Doha and Thailand.”

Spain is another country that has kept giant panda specimens in its care for decades, but the female Hua Zui Ba and the male Bing Xing are 21 and 23 years old respectively, so they should be returned soon . However, China has committed to sending two more younger animals, in line with its diplomatic and animal welfare policies.

It should be added that in theory the Asian giant does not betray the bears, but betrays them. In the case of the Iberian country, they were delivered in 2007, during a state visit by the then kings Juan Carlos and Sofía. . The couple’s four offspring, all the result of artificial insemination, were returned to China in accordance with its international breeding program, which successfully transformed it from an endangered species to a vulnerable species. It is estimated that there are just over 1,800 pandas in the wild in the world, in addition to around 300 in captivity.

“We look forward to a new round of international cooperation for the protection of the giant panda with relevant countries, which will further expand scientific research results on the protection of giant pandas and other endangered species, and promote people-to-people ties and friendship,” Mao concluded Thursday.