How China’s pandas may reflect spiralling international relations with the West
Pandas are China’s undisputed pride and joy.
They are a symbol of statehood, in many ways a national obsession.
But they are also valuable diplomatic tools and, in Xi Jinping’s China, a litmus test of sorts for the state of international relations.
Indeed, in 2023 unprecedented numbers of Chinese pandas leant abroad and hosted in foreign zoos have returned home and not been replaced.
In a sign of just how strained relations with the West have become, by the end of 2024 there will likely be no pandas at all in either the US, the UK, or Australia for the first time in five decades.
China has a long history of gifting its iconic bears abroad, with evidence of this practice happening as early as the 7th century.
In the modern era, these gifts have taken the form of loans and China gave its first pandas to America in 1972 following a visit to Beijing by then President Nixon and his wife.
But the principle has remained the same: a gesture of trust and a soft power tool around which China could curry favour and build influence.
Over the years, Chinese pandas have been hosted in countries around the world from the US, the UK, Germany and France to Japan and South Korea, but it’s unclear how much longer this practice might continue.
At Beijing Zoo there are always crowds of people who gather to see the pandas. Some have travelled a long way, while others visit multiple times a year.
And there is one resident in particular whose story explains what a serious diplomatic business the lending of pandas has become.
Ya Ya is 23 years old and a solid fan favourite. She is not currently on show to the public, but the zoo releases weekly videos showing her progress.
Ya Ya the panda at Memphis zoo. File pic: AP
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She returned home earlier this year from a long-term loan in America, amid a social media and diplomatic storm.
After images of her from Memphis Zoo looking skinny with ragged fur went viral, angry Chinese social media users called for her to be returned and the accusation that America was mistreating her spread rapidly.
Although Memphis Zoo insisted her appearance was down to a genetic skin condition and even though Chinese authorities later said Ya Ya had been treated well, the rumours were not curtailed by the censors and were enough to have influence on public opinion.
“All the sufferings Ya Ya had in America made me very uncomfortable,” says Shao Yanping a regular zoo visitor and a close follower of Ya Ya’s story.
“I don’t like America. The way they’ve treated our national treasure makes me dislike them even more. She was abused there. You can see with your own eyes. Just saying ‘we didn’t abuse it’, is not okay.”
The fact this narrative was allowed to run was indicative of increasingly strained relations. At the time little progress had been made to patch things up following the so-called spy balloon incident.
But while Ya Ya became a symbol of spiralling tensions, many other pandas were also being withdrawn.
Indeed, adult pandas Yang Guang and Tian Tian made their way home from Edinburgh Zoo recently after a stay of 12 years, while three pandas left Washington’s Smithsonian National zoo in November after their lease was not renewed.
Yang Guang (L) and Tian Tian
The only pandas remaining in the US are in Atlanta, and their lease is also set to expire in 2024.
By the end of next year, there will likely be no pandas in the States for the first time in 50 years.
“Having that kind of connectivity to the outside world is really wonderful for China and it’s great for the world to know more about China.” says Professor Robert Koepp, an expert on China-US relations and director of the Asia-Pacific Geoeconomics and Business Initiative.
He explains that while removing soft power tools may not serve China in the long term, it is reflective of its new harder line diplomacy.
“You had this ‘Panda Diplomacy’ but lately it’s been more ‘Wolf Warrior Diplomacy,’ this highly aggressive form of, you can’t even call it outreach, it’s posturing.” he says.
“So we’ve gone from pandas to wolves, from cuddliness to aggressiveness, and that isn’t to say that China shouldn’t feel it has the right to be assertive and look after its own interest as any country should, but it’s the way it’s gone about it, it really isn’t earning too many friends outside maybe Russia and North Korea.”
Indeed, China is still sending pandas to some and it’s perhaps indicative as to where its loyalties lie.
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping at Moscow Zoo in Russia in 2019. Pic: AP
Russia is one recent recipient. Pictures of President Xi and President Putin beaming together at Moscow Zoo crossed the world in 2019, and China has since then moved ever closer to its northern neighbour.
It is possible pandas could return to the West. Xi Jinping hinted as much at a recent summit with US President Joe Biden in San Francisco.
But while that summit offered a very slight easing of tensions, there is still so much that divides them and thus so much that could block any future agreement.
For now, it seems, pandas remain a precious bargaining chip, and a symbol of strained relations.
Israel will call up 60,000 reservists as it prepares to launch an expanded military operation in Gaza City.
The military said the country’s defence minister Israel Katz has approved plans to begin a new phase of operations in some of the most densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces will operate in areas of Gaza City where they have not yet operated and where it believes Hamas is still active, a military official said.
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Israel must have ‘security control’ to end Gaza war, Netanyahu says
The city is the main military and governing stronghold of Hamas and Israeli troops will target the group’s vast underground network, the official added.
Although Israel has targeted and killed much of Hamas’ senior leadership, parts of the group are actively regrouping and carrying out attacks, including launching rockets towards Israel, the official said.
It remains unclear when the operation will begin, but it could be a matter of days.
Palestinians at the site of a house struck by Israel in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
The official said 60,000 reservists will be called up in the coming month and the service of an additional 20,000 reservists currently serving will be lengthened.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objectives of the war are to secure the release of the remaining hostages and destroy Hamas.
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Gaza hospitals ‘overwhelmed with malnutrition cases’
International criticism of Israel increased after the planned offensive was announced earlier this month amid fears of another mass displacement of Palestinians.
The families of the hostages and former army and intelligence chiefs oppose an expanded operation in Gaza City, with most of the families of hostages wanting an immediate ceasefire.
They worry an expanded assault could threaten prospects of bringing the 50 remaining hostages home. Israel believes 20 of those are still alive.
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Parachutes drop aid supplies in Gaza. Pic: AP
Palestinians rush to collect airdropped humanitarian aid packages. Pic: AP
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251.
Many of the hostages have been released in ceasefires and other deals, with Hamas saying it will only free the remainder in exchange of a lasting ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal.
More than 62,000 people have been killed during Israel’s 22-month counteroffensive, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up around half of those killed.
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Earlier this week, the ministry said 154 adults had died of malnutrition-related causes since the ministry began counting such deaths in late June, and 112 children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began.
Thousands have fled parts of Gaza City in recent days amid airstrikes and advancing Israeli troops, new satellite imagery shows.
Israel’s advance comes as it prepares to mount a full-scale invasion of the city, where the UN says around one million Palestinians are sheltering.
Satellite imagery shows that entire tent camps in southeast Gaza City were emptied between 9 and 17 August as families fled the renewed attacks.
The video below shows the moment of an airstrike in southeastern Gaza City on 13 August. Sky News geolocated the footage to a building less than 200 metres from a major tent camp.
Another video, taken on 15 August, shows a strike on a building right next to the camp.
By the following day, almost all the camp’s residents had fled, along with people sheltering at 30 other locations in the area.
Fresh vehicle tracks in the area indicate extensive troop movements on the ground.
The satellite image below, taken on 17 August, shows at least nine military vehicles in the streets surrounding one former tent camp.
Sky News counted 58 military vehicles in the area on 17 August, including 17 bulldozers.
The image below shows four IDF vehicles, including a bulldozer, parked next to the remains of one tent camp. Several nearby buildings had been levelled in the days beforehand.
Between 9 and 17 August, at least 132 buildings were destroyed in less than one square kilometre of the city.
It’s unclear how much of the destruction was carried out by IDF bulldozers and how much was a result of airstrikes.
On Monday, eyewitnesses reported that Israeli tanks had made further advances into eastern Gaza City.
The advances came as Hamas said it had approved a ceasefire deal presented by mediators Egypt and Qatar. Israel has yet to respond to the proposal.
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his country’s military to prepare for a full-scale invasion and occupation of the city in order to “free Gaza from Hamas”.
The UN has said that the invasion risks “catastrophic consequences” for the estimated one million Palestinians sheltering in the city, while UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the plan would “only bring more bloodshed”.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
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