Opinion | Will Taiwan’s ‘pangolin diplomacy’ be a turning point or a double-edged sword?
- Beijing’s panda diplomacy ushered in a new era for China, and Taipei hopes that sending pangolins to Prague may help it win friends and find a stronger voice
- But if pushed too far, pangolin diplomacy may heighten Beijing’s fears that Taiwan is exerting itself too prominently, or inching closer to independence
In 1972, then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai gifted Washington with two giant pandas, Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling, two months after former United States president Richard Nixon’s landmark trip to China.
The gestures ended 25 years of tension between the two countries, and even ended Beijing’s isolation, which was partly due to the Cold War between communism and capitalism, and in part because of China’s domestic upheavals and political campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s.
The US-China rapprochement also facilitated then Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s new vision of looking to the US and the Western world for ways to modernise China. This subsequently led to the reform and opening-up era in the late 70s which set China on its path to unprecedented growth and prosperity.
This week, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that the Taipei Zoo is ready to transport two Formosan pangolins to the Czech Republic for a breeding loan project, as soon as the zoo in the capital Prague finishes constructing the enclosure for the mammals.
The programme, aimed at breeding new pangolins overseas, was established last August after the mayor of Prague visited the Taipei Zoo.