America Says Goodbye to Pandas, China Remembers Them All

Three giant pandas from the National Zoo in Washington will return to China in December, a three-year contract with the Chinese Wildlife Authority expires that month. Not just the US capital Three other US zoos, Atlanta, San Diego and Memphis, did the sameAll three have either surrendered their pandas or returned them to China by the end of next year.

Although both sides deny involvement in politics, China has long used “panda diplomacy” to please, reward friends and punish enemies – Writes the paper. The question is how much the loss of America’s last pandas has to do with US-China relations at historic lows. Of course That year, America got its first pandasAfter President Richard Nixon normalized relations in 1972, more countries followed suit.

Of course, there are plenty of non-political reasons why pandas are now called “home.” One explanation is that all pandas leaving US zoos are old enough to go home anyway. The departure of some pandas has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has also slowed the Chinese rental system. The article also mentions Nowhere in the world do zoos have full custody of pandas. On the contrary They rent them outand an agreement to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to China.

It’s unclear what will happen to the Washington Zoo. A spokesman for the National Zoo declined to comment on whether new negotiations were underway. But a person close to the Biden administration said the U.S. plans to discuss the issue with China, and China’s embassy in Washington has left open the possibility of a happy ending.

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