Beijing:

During a visit to Australia this week, Chinese Premier Li Qiang made a classic goodwill gesture that boded well for relations between the two countries: he offered to send pandas.

The offer comes as ties between Australia and its largest trading partner improve after a diplomatic dispute that lead to China imposing a raft of restrictions on Australian agricultural and mineral exports in 2020.

Native to China, pandas have through the years become “envoys of friendship”, earning China’s outreach to countries it gifts the animals to the name of panda diplomacy.

They have also been used to show Chinese anger.

So what is panda diplomacy and how does it work?

WHEN DID PANDA DIPLOMACY START?

Since its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China has used panda diplomacy to boost its international image by gifting or lending panda to foreign zoos as goodwill animal ambassadors.

Former Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1957 gifted a panda, Ping Ping, to the former Soviet Union to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution that ushered in the Soviet regime.

To further cement ties with its socialist allies, China dispatched another panda to the Soviet Union in 1959 and five more to North Korea between 1965 and 1980.

In 1972, Beijing gifted two pandas, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, to the United States after then President Richard Nixon’s historic visit, in a sign of normalised China-U.S. relations and marking a pivotal moment for China’s foreign policy.

Since then, other countries including Japan, France, Britain and Spain have also been given panda.

WHAT’S THE PANDA DIPLOMACY POLICY?

Since 1984, China stopped gifting pandas due to their dwindling numbers and began loaning them to overseas zoos instead, often in pairs for 10 years, with an annual fee of up to about $1 million.

While keeping pandas can be costly for zoos, they are seen as drawcards for visitors and help generate income.

The pandas typically return home to southwest China after the loan agreement ends. Panda cubs born overseas are no exception, and would be sent home between the age of two and four to join a Chinese breeding programme.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

China has a history of using pandas to reward its trading partners. A 2013 Oxford University study said the timing of China’s lease of pandas to Canada, France and Australia “coincided with” uranium deals and contracts with these countries.

The panda agreements with other countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, also coincided with the signing of free-trade agreements.

Sometimes, pandas are also used to express China’s displeasure with a nation.

In 2010, China recalled two U.S.-born pandas, Tai Shan and Mei Lan, after Beijing warned Washington against a scheduled meeting between then-President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama, which Beijing views as a dangerous separatist.

In a recent downturn in bilateral ties, Ya Ya, on loan to the U.S. for 20 years, was returned in April 2023.

Concerns over her health had also fanned nationalist sentiment on China’s social media, with animal advocates accusing the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee of providing inadequate care to the animal.

In November last year, three other pandas left, leaving only four giant pandas on U.S. soil.

That month, Chinese President Xi Jinping then hinted that he was open to sending more pandas to the U.S. after meeting with President Joe Biden in California, a gesture seen as Chinese willingness to improve ties.

ARE PANDAS STILL ENDANGERED?

China’s domestic conservation programmes have seen the status of pandas improve from endangered to vulnerable.

The population of giant pandas in the wild has grown from around 1,100 in the 1980s to 1,900 in 2023.

There are currently 728 pandas in zoos and breeding centres around the world.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

China’s Premier Li Qiang waves as he arrives at Adelaide Airport on June 15, 2024, in Adelaide, Australia.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in Australia on June 15 on a relations-mending mission with panda diplomacy, rock lobsters and China’s global dominance in the critical minerals sector high on the agenda.

His visit is the first by a Chinese premier in seven years and is expected to pave the way for President Xi Jinping’s first journey to Australia since 2014.

This is the second leg of Mr. Li’s tour after New Zealand, and will end in Malaysia.

Premier Li’s optimistic agenda

Before leaving New Zealand, Mr. Li told an audience in Auckland on June 15 that his country was committed to creating a first-class business environment and supporting foreign enterprises to develop in China, according to Chinese state media.

Mr. Li said there was vast potential for China and New Zealand to collaborate in areas such as green development and that Beijing welcomed New Zealand enterprises, such as dairy company Fonterra, that seized such opportunities, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

During the Australian leg of his travels which ends on June 18, China’s most powerful politician after President Xi is expected to visit Adelaide Zoo in the South Australia State capital where his Air China flight landed from Auckland.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas greeted Mr. Li on the Adelaide Airport tarmac.

Mr. Li will also visit a Chinese-controlled lithium processing plant in the Kwinana Beach industrial estate in Western Australia State, as well as Australia’s Parliament House in the national capital Canberra.

Resetting bilateral relations

China initiated a reset of the bilateral relationship after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party was elected in 2022.

The relationship collapsed during the previous conservative administration’s almost decade in power over legislation that banned covert foreign interference in Australian politics, the exclusion of Chinese-owned telecommunications giant Huawei from rolling out the national 5G network due to security concerns, and Australia’s call for an independent investigation into the causes of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beijing imposed an array of official and unofficial trade blocks in 2020 on a range of Australian exports including coal, wine, barley and wood that cost up to A$20 billion ($13 billion) a year.

All the trade bans have now been lifted except for Australian live lobster exports. Trade Minister Don Farrell predicted that impediment would also be lifted soon after Mr. Li’s visit with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

“I’d be very confident that the visit this week will result in a very successful outcome for lobster producers,” Mr. Farrell told reporters on June 12.

Economic and security concerns

Many observers expect Australia will be more cautious about its future economic relationship with China after being subjected to what many see as economic coercion in recent years.

Australian National University’s China expert Benjamin Herscovitch describes an “emerging expectations gap” between Beijing and Canberra.

“Beijing, now that the coercion campaign is over, wants to … turn the page and launch into a more expansive, more positive, more cooperative bilateral relationship,” Mr. Herscovitch said.

“Canberra’s saying: Look. Hold on. We want the trade restrictions gone and we want high-level diplomacy restored. But we’re not interested in deeper science and technology cooperation with China because we see that potentially from an Australian point of view as a security threat,” Mr. Herscovitch added.

Mr. Li intends to visit Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia’s processing plant south of the Western Australia capital Perth on June 18 to underscore China’s interest in investing in critical minerals, news media have reported. The plant produces battery-grade lithium hydroxide for electric vehicles.

Australia shares the United States’ concerns over China’s dominance in the critical minerals, which are essential components in the world’s transition to renewable energy sources.

Citing Australia’s national interests, Treasurer Jim Chalmers recently ordered five Chinese-linked companies to divest their shares in the rare earth mining company, Northern Minerals.

Less controversially, Mr. Li is expected to make a visit Adelaide Zoo on June 16, which has been the home of China-born giant pandas Wang Wang and Fu Ni since 2009.

The Adelaide Advertiser newspaper has reported Mr. Li will announce the pandas will be replaced by another breeding pair after they return to China in November.

While the bilateral economic relationship is recovering from plumbing new lows in recent years, the security relationship between the two free trading partners appears more tense.

An annual poll by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute foreign policy think tank released in June found 53% of Australian respondents saw China as more of a security threat than an economic partner.

Mr. Albanese has said he will raise with Mr. Li during an annual leaders’ meeting on June 17 recent clashes between the two countries’ militaries in the South China Sea and Yellow Sea which Australia argues endangered Australian personnel.

Other diplomatic engagements

The premier spent three days in New Zealand, a free trade partner with which China has enjoyed a more harmonious relationship than it has with Australia. Mr. Li described China and New Zealand as “good friends.” His next stop will be Malaysia, where bilateral relations are further complicated by competing territorial claims in the South China Sea.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Mr.Li on June 15 : “China is one of New Zealand’s most important and consequential relationships.”

Mr. Li used the trip to express concerns at New Zealand’s contemplation of joining a military technology-sharing arrangement under Australia’s AUKUS pact with the United States and Britain. The pact’s primary aim is to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology.

The story so far: Over centuries, treaties, agreements and handshakes have been used by leaders globally to create ties. However, amid serious world politics, there is an odd yet effective diplomatic tool known as animal diplomacy. In a recent development, Malaysia, the world’s second-largest palm oil producer is aiming to improve its environmental image by putting forward the “orangutan diplomacy”.

They plan to give orangutans to the countries that purchase their palm oil. This gesture aims to show Malaysia’s concern for the endangered apes, whose habitats are often destroyed by palm oil plantations. Inspired by China’s “panda diplomacy,” Malaysia hopes this move will ease global concerns about the environmental impact of palm oil production. This unconventional yet effective strategy speaks volumes about the power of cultural exchange in shaping global politics.

What is animal diplomacy and how does it work?

Animal diplomacy involves giving or lending animals as a sign of friendship or goodwill between countries. These creatures possess cultural significance or are indigenous to the country that gifts them, hence making them influential instruments for diplomacy. For example, China’s panda diplomacy can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty when emperors gave away pandas to foreign rulers as symbols of peace and cooperation. Consequently, the receiving state usually agrees to protect such species beside this thereby furthering harmonisation between nations.

What does history say about animal diplomacy?

The first recorded instances of animal diplomacy can be traced to ancient civilisations. In exchange, pharaohs gave other rulers rare animals to show off their wealth and power. Notable among these was Pharaoh Hatshepsut who sent a giraffe as a present to the King of Syria around 1500 BC.

Read | A case of animal diplomacy

During the middle ages and renaissance periods, European kings frequently exchanged animals such as lions and tigers in order to show their authority over nature. These majestic beasts were symbols of mightiness and grandeur, which could only be preserved for the wealthy class.

In old times, a lion as a gift was regarded as both an emblem of royal favour and strength. Monarchs would give lions away to foreign leaders as a display of friendship and loyalty; this showed how powerful they were. Preserved in menagerie or belonging to royal collections, these regal creatures demonstrated diplomatic success; hence, they were viewed with respect as trophies living that embodied honorifics symbols for esteem or authoritativeness.

As a matter of fact, for many years now, elephants were given the highest recognition levels in Asia for their wisdom, strength and good luck. The mighty creatures were presented by kings to their foreign counterparts as a sign of deference and solidarity, during which time the elephants would act as messengers between these countries.

Why is China famous for its animal diplomacy?

Animal diplomacy originated from China back then and it was majorly associated with the giant panda. This was when they started giving these cute animals to other countries during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). China has retained giving them away as gifts which are deemed to symbolise peace and friendship.

In November 2023, after a key meeting held between President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, signs emerged of a significant diplomatic move: the revival of China’s famed panda diplomacy. Mr. Xi hinted at the possibility of resuming panda exchanges with the United States, marking a potential thaw in bilateral relations.

China is gearing up to renew its panda diplomacy efforts, with plans to loan a pair of giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo. The China Wildlife Conservation Authority has signed cooperation agreements not only with San Diego but also with Madrid, Spain. Discussions are ongoing with zoos in Washington D.C. and Vienna, Austria, signalling broader outreach in China’s diplomatic animal exchange programme, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency. If the permits are approved, the pandas could be in the San Diego Zoo before the end of summer.

What is the orangutan diplomacy in Malaysia?

Following the Chinese model of “panda diplomacy,” Malaysia has come up with its own approach to the soft power which it describes as “orangutan diplomacy.” The goal of this strategy is to link other countries together by using orangutan conservation efforts for environmental issues.

Malaysia, the second largest producer of palm oil in the world, receives criticism due to deforestation caused by palm oil plantations that are a major threat to endangered orangutans. Orangutan diplomacy seeks to reverse this trend. In an attempt to project itself as a pacesetter on wildlife protection, Malaysia aims to meet at least three objectives: It wants to enhance its image by becoming a champion of various things connected with wild animal protection; it wants to encourage sustainable production of palm oil and it wants to work jointly with other countries on saving orangutans.

This plan suggests allocating orangutans from main importers of palm oil like China, India and the EU. This approach therefore rests upon two basic factors: its endearing character and symbolic significance as to how orangutans represent the rich biodiversity of Malaysia’s rainforests, highlighting the environmental damage caused by unsustainable practices.

Which other countries are involved?

In the year 2014, when heads of various countries met in Brisbane, Australia, for a G20 Summit, a different kind of diplomacy took place. The kangaroo diplomacy made use of Australia’s natural environment that is full of diverse species of flora and fauna including koalas.

As the summit’s host nation, Australia ensured that it left a lasting impression on the visiting dignitaries and delegates by deploying its irresistible attraction; koalas. These cuddly animal ambassadors became unexpected symbols of the country’s warm welcome to guests as well as good stewards of nature in whom they were embodying its commitment to conservation and sustainability.

Read |Down to its last panda, Mexico ponders what could come next

Throughout the conference period, there was a flood of images showing leaders from across the world holding koalas, while interacting with other Australian iconic creatures saturated media capturing both attention and headlines. It was amazing to see Barack Obama, the then President of the U.S. or Vladimir Putin of Russia couldn’t resist touching these cute creatures from Down Under.

However, koala diplomacy can be considered more than just an opportunity for photo shoots therefore it functioned as an instrumentality for power projection through soft means. By flaunting its unique wildlife coupled with environmental policies, which are globally oriented, this country revealed its solidarity in any worldwide partnership on environmental matters

The koala’s presence at the G20 summit has sparked debates about conservation of biodiversity and the need to safeguard vulnerable ecosystems. Koalas were helpful in raising discussions on pertinent environmental issues, thus emphasising the urgency of united efforts aimed at securing tomorrow’s world. Ultimately, the 2014 G20 Summit was a practical example that proved how animal ambassadors can change international relations towards sustainable development and cooperation.

Also Read: As wildlife diplomacy takes wing, government considers Sri Lankan proposal for translocating gaurs

There were other examples as well. The gifting of elephants, which are majestic creatures representing strength and loyalty, has remained part of Thai diplomacy for ages. Turkmenistan uses its invaluable Akhal-Teke horses known for being fast as diplomatic gifts.

What the future might hold?

There are prospects for future collaboration and cooperation between countries in animal diplomacy that can rise above the traditional geopolitical borders with a purpose to protect nature and enhance international understanding.

These nations could work together on conservation projects related to their ambassador animals. This brings about a shared responsibility for the welfare of the creatures and strengthens the diplomatic bonds formed around them. It is not only traditional players who can use animal diplomacy. Some small countries having unique endangered species might maybe use this method as well. For example, a poor country having critically endangered primates may collaborate with richer ones’ zoos so as to create breeding programs and research, which will help educate people internationally.

Animal diplomacy has the potential to move beyond feel-good tactics by focusing on collaborative efforts in conservation while at the same time allowing room for new players thus becoming an instrument of fostering international cooperation on pressing environmental concerns.