After spending two decades on loan at the American Memphis Zoo – as part of Beijing’s efforts for “panda diplomacy”– Ya Ya, a 22-year-old female giant panda, will be reintegrated into China amid a wave of health concerns from animal rights and welfare groups.
Yaya was born at the Beijing Zoo in August 2000. Three years later, she and Le Le, a male panda from the Shanghai Zoo, were flown to Memphis as part of a cooperative program on giant panda protection and research. between China and the US.
That moment represented a milestone in bilateral relations, just two years after China joined the World Trade Organization with US support, and as both economies deepened their engagement in areas ranging from economic issues to the fight against terrorism. .
Beijing has been practicing “panda diplomacy” since 1972, however, when the communist country demands a panda, it is because the regime is extremely angry.
For this reason, after boarding a plane to his country of origin this Thursday, Ya Ya has become a true icon and the new victim of the decline of bilateral ties, which have fallen to their lowest point in half a century. After a 16-hour flight, the bear landed in Shanghai carried by a special FedEx “panda express” plane, Chinese state media reported.
For nearly three months, heated discussions in China over the zoo’s treatment of the bear have helped highlight just how antagonistic relations between the two giants have become. Undoubtedly, the animal has been weighed down by the growing tensions between the two world powers. After photos and videos showing her emaciated appearance and extreme thinness spread online, animal rights groups launched a petition to have the bear released, alleging that she was being mistreated at the zoo that hosted her. .
Also, in February, animal rights activists condemned the center’s care of its giant bears after Ya Ya’s playmate Le Le died of heart disease at the age of 24. Those responsible defended themselves by stating that they received “excellent care”, but the campaigns to rescue them multiplied on Chinese social networks, with hostile sentiments towards the Americans.
What happened has called into question the well-known panda diplomacy, with some pointing out that it is a political instrument of soft power disguised as conservation. Although the zoos that house the animals continue to send millions a year to China as conservation fees, the population of this vulnerable species remains alarmingly low in the wild.
Since 1972, when China gifted Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing to the Washington National Zoo, more than 22 countries have received Chinese giant pandas, the latest being Qatar. In order to conserve the animals, the Chinese authorities sign agreements with zoos and accordingly demand high fees. Panda pairs are loaned out for a million dollars a year. If any panda cubs are born, zoos must shell out an additional $600,000.
However, some publications and critical voices point to a correlation between panda loans and large, long-term international trade deals. Edinburgh Zoo received its two pandas as part of a £2.6bn trade deal in 2011. That same year, Canada and France each acquired a pair of pandas after signing uranium export deals. Thanks to the pandas, the Chinese developed “guanxi”, a term used to describe personalized networks of influence, trust, reciprocity and loyalty.
