The soft power of China’s pandas
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 November 2023
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, why the United States is saying goodbye to its pandas. And how the bears became a powerful diplomatic symbol of U.S.-China relations.
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For decades, China has deployed its giant pandas as a diplomatic tool to shore up alliances and woo new partners, including the United States. In 1972, China first gifted the United Statestwo pandas. Since then, it has leased pandas to zoos across the country. Now, after American zoogoers have come to adore the bears, China is taking all of its pandas back.
This week, under police escort and accompanied by their longtime keepers, Washington’s three giant pandas boarded a FedEx cargo jet at Dulles International Airport headed for Chengdu, China. The only remaining pandas in the nation will be in Atlanta, and they are scheduled to depart for China next year.
The pandas’ exit comes at a moment of strained U.S.-China relations. Enterprise reporter William Wan explains the hidden diplomatic power of China’s pandas, and how these black-and-white bears are beloved by Americans across the country.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So it came as a surprise. The National Zoo was very secretive about when exactly these |
| 0:08.3 | pandaps were going to leave Washington. |
| 0:11.2 | William Wan is an enterprise reporter. leave Washington. |
| 0:16.0 | William Wan is an enterprise reporter for the post. This week, he found himself closely tracking the movements of some local celebrities, |
| 0:21.0 | DC's three giant pandas. |
| 0:24.3 | They called the National Zoo their home |
| 0:26.8 | until Wednesday. |
| 0:28.2 | You know, they told a few reporters the night before. |
| 0:32.4 | And so, you know, even before the sun was up a zoo was pretty |
| 0:36.7 | bustling with activity they had a podium set up for speeches and remarks by the Zoom officials and Chinese dignitaries. |
| 0:46.0 | As a diplomat in Washington, I say to them, Goodbye and the Bon Voyage. |
| 0:52.0 | As a Chinese government official, I say to them, welcome back. |
| 0:57.0 | And then it was just a lot of waiting. It was a lot of reporters kind of in a group in a scrum waiting to see these pandas carried out on these |
| 1:06.6 | crates. |
| 1:07.6 | Yep, she has no pause out. |
| 1:10.6 | She just pressed. |
| 1:11.6 | They have these crates that they've been putting in the enclosure to get them used to it, |
| 1:14.6 | putting food in there for them. |
| 1:16.3 | Do you see your Frutsicle? |
| 1:18.7 | And so they walk them into these crates, they close those up, |
| 1:23.4 | they haul them by a forklift onto these three waiting FedEx trucks. |
| 1:27.4 | And these FedEx trucks were escorted by police through the streets of Washington to |
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