A between San Diego Zoo and China’s Wildlife Conservation Association in February 2024 that paved the way for Chinese giant pandas to return to the US by the end of the summer.
Author
Chee Meng Tan
Assistant Professor of Business Economics, University of Nottingham
But this is far more than just a deal between two zoos. It suggests a between the US and China, and a bid by China to help repair .
For decades, China has used , where Beijing gave or loaned its pandas as a sign of friendship or to strengthen national ties, to establish a good long-term relationship with other countries. However, in 2023, when China from the Smithsonian zoo in Washington DC, this seemed to symbolise how rocky the China-US relationship had become.
Two pandas were given as a gift to the US after President Richard Nixon , and this was seen as a major breakthrough in modern US-China relations. From the 1990s onwards panda diplomacy was transformed into a involving conservation and scientific study.
Panda diplomacy is part of what is called , how nations use their culture or heritage to influence . Pandas are , and have what it takes to . So, the pandas became part of an attractive part of .
By sending these pandas to the US, Beijing intends to woo the American public, but also more specifically, California, the home of the US technology industry.
One reason for this is that Beijing needs to jump start its ailing economy. Foreign investment in China was in 2022. But between July and September 2023 things got a lot , as foreign direct investment leaving the country outweighed that coming in. This had not happened since 1998.
A main reason for this drop in foreign investment stems from on exports of semiconductor technology to China. This is related to US concerns that the chips could be used by China for . To turn the economic tide, China needs to repair its trade relationship with the US, and possibly get the US government to change its policy.
The two giant pandas are headed for California, home to both the Silicon Valley and San Francisco, currently the development.
The potential of this technology is important for China. As well as the potential to add £474 billion to the Chinese economy by 2030, it could provide for China’s powerful .
To become a world leader of artificial intelligence by 2030, China needs talent and technological know-how. But China’s ability to enhance its artificial intelligence capacity through domestic talent is constrained by an education system steeped in .
Beijing’s redeployment of pandas dials up the diplomatic goodwill several notches, signalling Beijing’s seriousness in improving links with Washington. After all, the pandas represent China’s towards a foreign nation, and this move typically a plan to build a long, prosperous working relationship.
What’s the history?
The Smithsonian’s zoo, arguably the birthplace of panda diplomacy in the west, had been home to giant pandas since . It was from November 8, 2023, that the zoo lost its giant pandas for the first time in , when Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their offspring, Xiao Qi Ji were flown back to China.
At that point, there were suggestions that panda diplomacy as between the US and China had risen significantly. Relations between US and Chinese businesses also seemed to be getting worse. A survey by the US-China Business Council of its members in 2023 found that 34% had stopped or reduced planned investment in China .
But later in November, China’s president Xi Jinping held a four-hour summit with President Joe Biden at the and signalled that there was potential for rapprochement. Xi said that, in a world of challenges, the US and China “must handle our relations well”. Xi alluded to the with Americans.
He added is “ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation”, and added that China will “do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples”.
Xi also set up a dinner with hundreds of tech executives including Apple CEO Tim Cook and business leaders on the sidelines of the Apec meeting. So it would seem logical that Beijing has decided to send its national treasures to California to signal the state’s importance to the Asian superpower.
It looks like back to the US is part of a strategy to improve not only its political relationship with Biden, but, perhaps more importantly, to help bring back US investment, and reframe Beijing as a friendlier trading power.
Chee Meng Tan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
