Panda diplomacy, 50 years on: the latest chapter for a safe space in US-China relations

A half-century after Beijing gave Washington its first pair of giant pandas, Chinese embassy and National Zoo host a review of joint effort to save the species

‘Giant pandas are no longer an endangered species, but sadly ‘panda huggers’ are in danger,’ said China’s top envoy to the US

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Giant panda cub Xiao Qi Ji celebrated his second birthday at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington on Sunday. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:00pm, 25 Aug 2022

China’s embassy in Washington hosted an event on Wednesday evening heavy in symbolism for a bilateral relationship stuck in steep descent.

The smoke had barely cleared from the People’s Liberation Army’s unprecedented live-ammunition military drills around Taiwan that followed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, sparking a constant volley of recriminations.

National Zoo Director Brandie Smith and Chinese ambassador to the US Qin Gang pose with a “fruitsicle” cake for the zoo’s giant pandas on April 16, celebrating 50 years of care, conservation, breeding and study of giant pandas. Photo: AP

Yet despite the torquing up of rancour, including strong words from Chinese ambassador Qin Gang, the message from Beijing’s top envoy was warm and fuzzy.

Literally.

Along with Brandie Smith, director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Qin invited some 200 guests to watch a documentary about the two-year-old giant panda cub Xiao Qi Ji – the name means “little miracle” in English – and to learn about the fruits of a 50-year joint giant panda conservation programme.

The programme – intended to support giant pandas in the wild and bolster their genetic diversity – has helped upgrade the status of giant pandas from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the global list of species at risk of extinction. The WWF, which features the panda in its logo, said 1,864 of the animals were living wild as of 2014, up from 1,114 in the 1980s.