WATCH — Explaining panda diplomacy between China and the U.S. | videoclip

China lends giant pandas to countries to signify friendship

When Zoo Atlanta received two pandas from China, they weren’t just accepting a couple of fat and fluffy bears, but an offering of peace and friendship from the country.

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are six-year-old giant pandas that arrived at the Atlanta, Georgia, zoo on Sept. 27.

They came via aircraft through a long-term agreement by the zoo and China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA). 

“We believe this new panda co-operation will benefit the protection of giant pandas and other endangered species, global biodiversity conservation and people-to-people friendship between China and the U.S.,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun on Nov. 10.

Since China is the sole owner of all the giant pandas in the world, this agreement is the only way zoos can house pandas. It’s commonly referred to as panda diplomacy. 

Meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang while CBC Kids News contributor Manny Brennan explains panda diplomacy:

What is panda diplomacy?

Panda diplomacy is China’s practice of gifting or lending giant pandas out to countries as diplomatic symbols to represent goodwill and friendship.

The word diplomacy refers to problem-solving with others through peaceful negotiations and actions rather than through aggression and hostility. 

Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa who worked with the federal government for Canada-China relations, told CBC Kids News that panda diplomacy is a gesture, but it doesn’t address the entire relationship between countries.

“It’s become a bit of a diversion,“ she said, “it can be used by China as a substitute for real action on important issues.”

Giant pandas Ping Ping, left, and Fu Shuang, right, are settled in eating bamboo at their new home at Zoo Atlanta, in Georgia on Nov. 6. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

On Sept. 24, U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, D.C., to talk about relations between the two countries.

They were expected to discuss topics like the war in Iran, finding common ground on trade and the advances of artificial intelligence.

While the two leaders agreed to extend their trade truce by two months, giant pandas were one of the only solid decisions that came out of their meeting, said McCuaig-Johnston.

How do pandas strengthen relationships?

Whether the pandas actually help solve global issues is a hard question to answer.

Philip Fei-Ling Wang, a professor of international affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, said the panda program helps the countries’ relationship in a small way, and shows some collaboration.

“We are running out of areas where there is going to be win-win, positive-sum collaboration and co-operations,” he told CBC Kids News.

According to Wang, the U.S. and China are on a path where advancements and competition result in one nation’s gain directly, resulting in the other’s equivalent loss, called a zero-sum game.

“The panda bear program is one of those things that we can still work together to make sure everybody is happy, but it’s still only at the margins.”

Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng and Zoo Atlanta’s president and CEO, Raymond King, cut a ribbon at the unveiling of the giant pandas on loan on Nov. 6. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

Does the program conserve the species?

According to the U.S. government, one pair of pandas typically costs the host institution around $1 million US.

The agreements made between zoos and the CWCA require China to put the funds from the program into preservation of the species.

They are always returned to China for breeding purposes and to support the wildlife and captive population.  

“Giant pandas are [an] endangered species still. Even though they have been upgraded to vulnerable, there’s still around 1,900 of them left in the wild,” Colby Loucks, the vice president for wildlife conservation at World Wildlife Fund U.S., told CBC Kids News.

“We still have to focus and prioritize conserving pandas in the wild. The loan program helps to do that.”

Loucks said that pandas, which are only found in China and have a “charisma” about them, are normally very popular and can expose people to learn about endangered species.

“The superpower for the giant panda is they open a door to curiosity.”

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