Many Countries Return Giant Pandas, as China’s ‘Panda Diplomacy' Comes to an End

The Smithsonian National Zoo's Giant Panda Mei Ziang, sleeps in the indoor habitat at the zoo in Washington on Aug. 23, 2015. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

Japan, Finland, the United Kingdom, and the United States have recently announced that they will return leased giant pandas to China. The United States and Taiwan each lost one of their giant pandas due to illness.

Japan Returned Four Giant Pandas

According to Japan’s Kyodo News agency, 30-year-old male panda Eimei and his twin daughters Ouhin and Touhin, eight years old, left Japan by plane on the evening of Feb. 22. The day before, Wakayama Adventure World held a farewell ceremony for them.

Eimei returned to China for panda conservation and breeding research, while his twin daughters returned to China to find a mate, the report said.

Eimei was born in Beijing, China in 1992 and came to Japan in 1994. He is a “super Dad” who had six cubs with female panda Meimei, who passed away in 2008, and ten cubs with Rauhin, making him the father of 16 cubs.

Newborn panda cubs displayed on a crib during a press conference at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province on Sept. 23, 2013. STR/AFP/Getty Images

On Feb. 21, another Japanese giant panda, Xiang Xiang, also returned to China. Xiang Xiang was born in Japan in June 2017, and according to the agreement between China and Japan, ownership of panda cubs born overseas also belongs to China. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Xiang Xiang’s return date was postponed four times.

Finland: Can’t Afford to Keep Pandas

In late January, a private zoo in Finland said it was ready to return two giant pandas it had leased from China because it could no longer afford their upkeep.

The pandas, named Lumi and Pyry, arrived in Finland in January 2018, shortly after Chinese leader Xi Jinping signed a 15-year panda lease with Finland on his 2017 state visit to the country.

Ahtari Zoo, located in central Finland, had hoped the pandas would attract tourists, but has instead racked up mounting debts as the pandemic hit tourism.

The Finnish government had offered the zoo a one-time financial support of 200,000 euros ($210,000) in 2021, but rejected the zoo’s application for a 5 million euro ($5.3 million) grant.

Under the 15-year lease, the zoo pays an annual fee to China. Although the amount has never been disclosed, it is estimated to be around 1 million euros ($1.06 million). Additionally, the zoo is responsible for the maintenance costs of the panda pair.

UK: Breeding Difficulties

The United Kingdom also announced the return of giant pandas in January. On Jan. 4, the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland said it expected to send a pair of pandas back to China by the end of October this year.

Yang Guang and Tian Tian arrived in Edinburgh in December 2011. The Edinburgh Zoo pays £750,000 ($900,000) a year to China for the two pandas.

As the UK’s only giant pandas, they have been incredibly popular with visitors, according to David Field, chief executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

But not long after their arrival, it was discovered that the panda pair had no enthusiasm for breeding. The staff attempted artificial inseminations eight times, all of which ended in failure. Yang Guang also developed testicular cancer and was castrated after undergoing a surgical operation.

The 10-year lease for the two pandas was originally due to expire in 2021, but was extended for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After this year, the lease will not be renewed.

Accidental Death in US

The United States was the first country to recently announce the return of giant pandas.

On Dec. 21 last year, the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee stated that it would return Ya Ya and Le Le to China, ending their 20-year lease.

The two pandas were set to be returned on April 7, according to the lease term. Unexpectedly, Le Le was suddenly found dead in his sleep in early February at the age of 25.

The Memphis Zoo could not identify the cause of death at the time of the announcement. Matt Thompson, the zoo’s president and CEO, said at a press conference that there was no indication that Le Le was sick. The video footage from the days before his death also showed no signs of any problems.

After the news came out, Chinese media criticized the United States, and many Chinese netizens strongly urged that Ya Ya be brought back ahead of the scheduled return date.

As the confrontation between China and the United States has spread to many areas, the unexpected death of Le Le seems to have further worsened the bilateral relations.

However, after China sent a giant panda expert to the United States, it was preliminarily determined that the cause of Lee’s death was a heart attack. At the same time, an assessment of Ya Ya concluded that, except for some hair loss cause by a skin condition, Ya Ya had a good appetite and her weight was stable.

Panda in Taiwan Died from Epilepsy

Another giant panda that died last year was more politically significant.

At the end of August last year, Tuan Tuan, a giant panda gifted to Taiwan from China, showed signs of epilepsy and was later diagnosed with a brain lesion that deteriorated rapidly. Since there is no precedent for humans to perform a craniotomy on pandas, veterinarians did not pursue this option. On Nov. 19, Tuan Tuan had three consecutive seizures. The medical team decided that his conditions were irreversible and decided to put him to sleep under anesthesia. That afternoon, Tuan Tuan’s heart stopped beating. He was only 18 years old, equivalent to 54 to 55 years old in human years.

The Chinese regime had basically stopped gifting giant pandas to foreign countries since 1982, but made a special effort to give Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan to Taiwan in 2006.

The two pandas were not originally named that way, but the CCP deliberately changed their names to mean “reunion” and “unity.”

Many Chinese netizens commented that the death of Tuan Tuan felt like a bad omen for Beijing’s intent to unify Taiwan.

Panda Diplomacy Fails

The giant panda is a unique species in China and is loved by people all over the world because of its cute image and gentle nature. The CCP was well aware of this. Between 1957 and 1982, the regime gave 23 giant pandas to nine countries as presents. The United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, Japan, and Germany had all received pandas as a special gift.

After 1982, under global pressure to protect endangered animals, the CCP stopped donating giant pandas and sent them abroad to participate in exhibition tours. Later, the CCP changed its approach and decided to send mature panda pairs abroad. These pandas would stay in a host country for 10 years of “cooperative research,” and during the entire time frame, the other party would pay millions of dollars in annual lease fees.

For decades, giant pandas have been treated like stars wherever they go. At the same time, they have also effectively beautified the image of the CCP.

Ji Lin, a current affairs commentator living in Japan, told The Epoch Times on March 7 that giant pandas had become a kind of soft power for the CCP. Those countries, by embracing pandas on loan from China, were making a gesture of their acceptance of the CCP’s political stance. But now many countries are unwilling to maintain this so-called “panda diplomacy,” either for political reasons or financial reasons, Ji said.

Akio Yaba, the Taipei branch director of the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, wrote in a Facebook post on Feb. 24 that the return of the pandas seems to symbolize that the CCP’s “panda diplomacy” is gradually coming to an end.