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Opinion | In US election year, pandas bring joy but won’t move needle on China relations
- China’s move to lend giant pandas to zoos in Washington and elsewhere is a gesture of soft power and a sign it does not want relations to reach a point of no return
- While soft power alone is not enough, it must remain part of the equation
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Elation swept across Washington as news broke that two young giant pandas will arrive from China by the end of the year. Six months ago, the city was heartbroken when a couple of pandas and their cub returned to China. Afterwards, the world seemed a darker place, tormented by the grim realities of power politics and the bitter conflict between the US and China over trade, technology and geostrategic manoeuvres.
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This gesture of soft power is a sign that Beijing does not want tensions with Washington to reach the point of no return.
The moment wasn’t lost on the White House. The announcement was made in a lighthearted video featuring First Lady Jill Biden discussing protocol for the new guests. In campaign mood, the White House is seizing every opportunity to tilt voters towards President Joe Biden in what polls show to be a dead heat with his returning nemesis Donald Trump.
Zoos in San Diego and San Francisco are also expecting breeding pairs of giant pandas from China. Meanwhile Atlanta is preparing to return the American-born panda twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun with their parents. There is no news yet if they will receive new guests.
Last November in San Francisco, after meeting Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping hinted that China would send more giant pandas to the US. He called them “envoys of friendship”.
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The summit was important in signalling a cooling off of China-US tensions, with Xi emphasising friendship in a banquet address to executives of top US companies. China is “ready to be a partner and friend of the United States”, he said, receiving three standing ovations that evening.
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