With Hui Bao and Rui Bao leaving, will new pandas fill the void? China's panda diplomacy in focus

China has loaned 40 pandas to 15 countries worldwide

From a Soviet-era gift to the US becoming the largest foreign host

Japan forced to return pandas early amid cooling ties; South Korea in talks for more

Twin giant pandas Rui Bao and Hui Bao, born in South Korea in 2023, play at Everland on Wednesday. The two pandas are scheduled to return to China in December. [Xinhua]

The United States has gained two pandas, while South Korea — set to lose two in December — is in talks to bring in two more. Japan, meanwhile, is left with none and has not even been able to raise the subject of getting them back.

The panda count offers a snapshot of where each country stands with Beijing. The arrival of two giant pandas in the United States, a result of last month's US-China summit, has renewed attention to China's panda diplomacy — a practice that has continued for more than half a century.

China practices what is known as "panda diplomacy" by lending giant pandas, which exist only in China, to friendly nations on long-term loans. According to the South China Morning Post, 40 pandas on loan from China now live across 15 countries. China first gave pandas as gifts to the Soviet Union. The practice gained wider recognition in the West after President Richard Nixon's historic 1972 visit to China, when Beijing sent giant pandas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing to the United States to mark the new friendship between the two countries.

A pair of giant pandas that China agreed to loan to Zoo Atlanta on the occasion of this year's US-China summit are loaded into containers in Chengdu on Saturday for transport. [Xinhua]

The United States has since received additional pandas from China and is now home to more giant pandas than any other country outside China. It currently has six, including Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, who arrived in Atlanta on Sunday.

Russia welcomed its first giant pandas, Ruyi and Dingding, in 2019 to mark the 70th anniversary of China-Russia diplomatic relations. Mexico is home to Xin Xin, considered the only giant panda in the world not owned by China — a descendant of pandas given as outright gifts in 1975, before Beijing shifted to a loan-based system.

South Korea currently has five members of the "Bao family" at Everland: Le Bao and Ai Bao's twins Hui Bao and Rui Bao, along with the youngest, Xiao Bao, born in June. Hui Bao and Rui Bao are scheduled to return to China in December, following their older sister Fu Bao, who was repatriated earlier. Under international agreements, giant pandas must return to China before they turn four — the age at which they reach breeding maturity.

In South Korea, preparations for the twins' return are proceeding alongside discussions about bringing in new pandas. Talks have been under way since President Lee Jae Myung proposed at a South Korea-China summit in January that President Xi Jinping loan South Korea a pair of giant pandas.

Twin pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, who were kept at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, are seen in this file photo. The pair were returned to China in January. [Reuters]

Pandas are seen as a symbol of goodwill with China and a potential driver of tourism revenue. Their presence draws visitors, boosting zoo admissions, merchandise sales and the flow of Chinese tourists. According to an analysis by Miyamoto Katsuhiro, an emeritus professor at Kansai University, a single baby panda born at Ueno Zoo — Xiang Xiang — generated an estimated annual economic impact of 26.7 billion yen ($169 million). The effect, sometimes called "pandanomics," extended well beyond the zoo gates to nearby restaurants, hotels and transport.

The costs are substantial, however. The annual loan fee paid to the Chinese government as a panda breeding research fund runs about $1 million per pair. Bamboo supply and dedicated facility upkeep add hundreds of millions of won or more each year.

Even so, diplomats say no country can afford to ignore its panda count, given what it signals about relations with Beijing. Japan is the clearest example of a country quietly suffering over the issue.

Relations between Japan and China deteriorated after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested last year that Japan could intervene in a Taiwan contingency. The last two pandas remaining in Japan — twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei at Ueno Zoo — were returned to China at the end of January, about a month ahead of the original schedule. Some analysts characterized the early return as effective retaliation for Takaichi's remarks.

kate01@heraldcorp.com