Panda Politics: Why are US zoos sending back the bears to China?

Ya Ya, a 22-year-old female giant panda, is all set to return to China from United States’ Memphis Zoo in Tennessee. Her farewell party, organised on Saturday (8 April), was watched by millions of Chinese people online who are awaiting her return. Surrounded by bamboo, Ya Ya was seen with a special ice cake made of grapes, sugar cane, and cookies in the videos shared online. As per South China Morning Post (SCMP), the hashtag “Ya Ya eats iced fruit cake” garnered 100 million views on China’s microblogging platform Weibo. Why is Ya Ya going back to China? Why is Beijing reclaiming its cute black-and-white bears back? We explain. Ya Ya to return to China Ya Ya’s return comes as Memphis Zoo’s 20-year loan agreement for joint research and conservation projects with the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens has ended. While the exact date of her return is not confirmed yet, the zoo’s spokesperson Rebecca Winchester said the panda will “likely head back to China at the end of the month”, reported SCMP. Ya Ya had come to the US in 2003 along with Le Le, a male panda who died in February at the age of 25 ahead of the duo’s scheduled return.

Giant pandas normally live for 25 to 30 years in captivity.

Since his death, calls for Ya Ya’s return grew more as some activists accused the zoo of mistreating the giant pandas. [caption id=“attachment_12445402” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Ya Ya’s farewell party was watched by millions of Chinese people online who are awaiting her return. AP File Photo[/caption] Advocacy groups such as Panda Voices have earlier pointed out the animals’ apparent loss of fur and weight and called for them to be “returned to China before it’s too late”. In Defense of Animals posted a video last February showing the two pandas pacing in circles in their enclosure as evidence they were suffering from “physical, mental, and emotional deprivation”, reported Reuters.  In December 2022, the Memphis Zoo announced it will return the animals, however, claimed the decision was not taken due to pressure from animal advocates. The zoo has previously denied the allegations of mistreatment, saying Ya Ya has a chronic skin and fur condition, which “occasionally make her hair look thin and patchy”, reported BBC. China’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, said on Tuesday that Ya Ya is in “relatively stable condition” other than the fur loss. After Ya Ya’s return, US zoos will have a total of 10 giant pandas left, as per Reuters. Her departure has come at a time when relations between China and the US are at their worst due to myriad issues, including Taiwan and Russia-Ukraine war. ALSO READ: Why has Taiwan sought China’s help for its giant panda? Pandas return to China Earlier in February this year, Japan bid an emotional farewell to Xiang Xiang, a female giant panda, at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo. Although Xiang Xiang was born in Japan in June 2017, she had to be sent back as her parents Ri Ri and Shin Shin were on loan from China. In January, a Finland zoo said it was considering returning two giant pandas on loan from China as it could no longer afford their maintenance. In December 2020, Smithsonian’s National Zoo in the US announced that its two adult giant pandas, Mei Xiang, and Tian Tian, will move back to China by the end of 2023 as a three-year extension agreement with the Asian country concludes. The last two giant pandas – 27-year-old Bai Yun and her six-year-old cub Xiao Liwu – at San Diego Zoo in California were sent back to China in 2019 after the Asian giant’s conservation loan agreement with the US came to an end and were not extended further. This came amid the then US president Donald Trump’s rising trade war with Beijing. Bai Yun, born in 1991 in China, was loaned to the US zoo in 1996. She gave birth to six cubs, with Xiao Liwu being the youngest. Bai Yun’s other five kids were sent back to China between 2007 and 2011, reported Observer. History of panda diplomacy China has been offering pandas as gifts since the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century when Empress Wu Zeitan sent two bears to Japan, according to a Doha News report. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) revived the gifting of pandas under Mao Zedong’s regime when in 1957 Beijing gave the erstwhile Soviet Union ‘Ping Ping’ to cement the ties between the two nations. During the Cold War, China gifted pandas to Russia and North Korea. In 1972, the US received a pair of giant pandas following the historic visit of then-President Richard Nixon to China. China has also gifted pandas to France, the UK, Germany, and Mexico. [caption id=“attachment_12445422” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Beijing started loaning pandas on 10-year loans in 1984 after the bears became endangered. AFP (Representational Image)[/caption] In 1984, Beijing started loaning pandas on 10-year loans after the bears became endangered.

While giant pandas are no longer endangered, they are considered a vulnerable species.

In return for keeping the pandas for a few years, foreign zoos have to pay around $500,000 to $1 million each annually to China. If a panda cub is born, it remains a property of China, which is paid an extra $400,000 by the concerned zoo. A 2013 Oxford University study noted that panda gifts happened at the same time as the signing of important trade deals, reported The Times of India (TOI). Experts say these bears serve as “goodwill ambassadors” for China and soften its authoritarian image in the eyes of the world, reported The New York Times (NYT). “It’s soft power,” Andrew J Nathan, a political science professor at Columbia who specialises in Chinese politics and foreign policy, said. “Pandas are very cute and lovable, so it fits into that kind of friendship diplomacy image,” he was quoted as saying by NYT. Why is China taking back the loaned pandas? China has reclaimed its pandas earlier to express its dissatisfaction with a country. In 2010, Beijing recalled a panda from the US after then-president Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama. Beijing can also reclaim pandas once the loan agreement with a zoo comes to an end and is not renewed. Foreign zoos are also required to send older pandas on loan back to China to spend their final days. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter , and Instagram .