Washington
“Many people don’t realize this, but there are actually two Chinese ambassadors in Washington: me and the panda cub at the National Zoo.”
That’s how the country’s top diplomat in the United States opened an article published in 2013 to celebrate the moment when the two powers, in his words, “decided to build a new model of cooperation where everyone wins.” .
Ten years later, amid escalating tensions, China is recalling its most charismatic ambassadors.
The Washington Zoo has until December 7 to bring back its three giant pandas, Mei Xiang, 25, Tian Tian, 26, and Xiao Qi Ji, 3 the cub born during the pandemic is the star of the virtual “Panda Camera” . with their somersaults in the snow.
To bid farewell to the main attraction, a “Panda Palooza” was organized, a nineday festival with crafts, yoga, DJ, screening of the movie “Kung Fu Panda” and cake (this one for the bears) and other activities.
“Your departure is sad. They’re my favorite animals and he won’t remember when he’s older,” says Melissa Quist, 29, as she holds her oneyearold son Muise on her lap.
She drove four hours last Wednesday afternoon (27) to say goodbye to the bears. Although the zoo was relatively empty, the panda hall was full.
“I wish it were you,” says Al Koroma, 32, as he walks past Mei Xiang, lying on his stomach, arms outstretched, hanging from a rock the picture of laziness. He and his friend Gabriel Maletta, 33, were neighbors of the pandas as children and always went to see them.
Maletta now lives in Denver, more than 1,500 miles away, and chose her birthday to make one last visit. When asked about the reason for the animals’ departure, Koroma hesitates for a moment, as if suspicious of the foreign reporter, but then says: “It’s because of the relationship with China.”
The deadline for the return is set in the agreement between the Smithsonian, a group of cultural and research institutions of which the zoo is a part, and the China Wildlife Preservation Association. It was founded before the arrival of the pandas in 2000 and was renewed in 2010 and again in 2020.
Now not only has there been no extension, but the zoo says there is no plan to take in new residents to replace those leaving. It will be the first time in 23 years that the American capital will no longer be home to pandas, a species that has become a favorite of the city in recent decades.
In addition to Washington, the Memphis Zoo brought back its bear in April, and the San Diego Zoo brought back a pair in 2019. With the loss of Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and Xiao Qi Ji, there will only be four pandas left in the United States, all in Atlanta. but not for long, as the two cubs arrive at the start of the year and their parents must leave for the year until the agreement signed by the local zoo expires.
China has a monopoly on the species native to its bamboo forests and uses the bears in a soft power strategy known as “panda diplomacy.” The practice began in the 1950s when animals were sent as gifts to allies. Instead of giving away the pandas, the country began signing leases in the 1980s.
In the case of Washington, for example, the agreement to receive Mei Xiang and Tian Tian called for the payment of US$10 million (R50 million) over the originally planned ten years. China, in turn, is obliged to use resources to preserve the species.
However, in recent years, “panda diplomacy” has begun to change its axis following changes in Chinese foreign policy. While bears are being repatriated in the US, Britain, the Netherlands and Japan, President Xi Jinping sent a pair of pandas to the Moscow Zoo as part of a 15year deal ahead of his visit to Russia in 2019.
“This is a gesture of special respect and trust towards Russia. When we talk about pandas, we almost always end up with a smile on our face,” said the feared Russian President Vladimir Putin at the time. “These animals are a national symbol of China and we greatly appreciate this gesture of friendship.”
The two countries are moving closer, a move that gained strength against the backdrop of the Ukraine war and the duo’s increasing hostility toward the West. The alliance worries the United States, whose relations with China have cooled since the administration of Donald Trump.
The Asian power’s ambitions in the IndoPacific region, particularly the militarization of the South China Sea, are of particular concern to Americans. During Joe Biden’s term, for example, Washington sought stronger ties with Japan and South Korea, angering its continental neighbor.
Biden also recently visited Vietnam and hosted Pacific Island leaders at the White House last week.
On the economic front, countries are engaged in a trade battle in which tariffs are simultaneously being imposed and the US is trying to ensure a chip supply chain that does not go through China. Last month, Washington also imposed tighter controls on Americans’ private investments, a move aimed at the Asian power.
Completely blind to global chess, between bamboo and nap, the pandas found themselves in the middle of this conflict.
More than the other returns, the pandas’ departure from Washington is particularly symbolic because the first bears the local zoo welcomed were sent to China after a historic visit by President Richard Nixon in 1972, a trip that marked the beginning of the rapprochement Countries marked between the pandas.
Legend has it that during a dinner in Beijing, First Lady Pat noticed a can of cigarettes on the table in front of her. “Are not they cute? I love her,” he said to Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, who was sitting next to him.
“I’ll give you some,” the Chinese is said to have said. “Cigarettes?” she asked. “No. Pandas.”
The Chinese version of the dialogue is slightly different, giving Enlai the initiative in the conversation but retaining the confusion between tobacco and bears.
At the time, there was a dispute between American zoos over who should receive the two guests, LingLing and HsingHsing, but the capital prevailed. In return, two musk oxen were sent to China.
As the first lady expected, “pandamonium” ensued: more than a million people visited the couple in the first month after it opened to the public.
The zoo made several unsuccessful attempts to crossbreed the two. According to a 1978 report, the male was in “bizarre positions that made reproduction impossible.” The female only became pregnant in 1983, but the calf died shortly after birth. There were four other pregnancies, but none were successful.
LingLing died of heart failure in 1992. HsingHsing’s death by euthanasia occurred seven years later. About a year later, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived.
Friends Caroline Riley, 29, and Rahima Ghafoori, 28, regret the return of the animals. “They have become an integral part of the zoo. I’ve been following the cub since he was born and I’m really excited to see him today,” said Riley upon arrival at Panda Palooza.
At that moment, as if he knew he was being called, Xiao Qi Ji appeared from the back of his room in the “Panda House” a room next to the openair cage that was divided into glassenclosed, bamboofilled rooms for each bear. The interview had to be interrupted: the puppy’s parade made it impossible to pay attention to anything other than him.