China is collecting its giant pandas on loan to zoos in the United States and other countries in what foreign policy analysts say is a possible change in its approach to
Three pandas at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., are scheduled to return to China by Dec. 7 as their loan agreement expires, according to The Washington Post. Four pandas at Zoo Atlanta are due to leave next year if a new deal isn't signed. Britain will lose its last two pandas in December, as will Australia next year if an existing agreement is not extended. Pandas left the Memphis Zoo in April and the San Diego Zoo in 2019.
Beijing has grown increasingly frustrated with how relations between China and the West have deteriorated in recent years, Tan said. "This may be one way of telling people that. 'You're not treating us very well, so maybe we'll pull out our pandas,'" he added.Pandas are one of the most recognizable emblems of China, and a source of "soft power," according to, a Swiss-Maltese nongovernmental organization centered on internet governance and digital policy.
China has offered pandas as diplomatic gifts to the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, among others. After a change in policy in 1984, pandas were leased instead of given as a gift, often accompanied by large fees and a set of terms and conditions.Pandas have been symbolic in U.S.-China relations since 1972 when President Richard Nixon made his historic visit to communist China.
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