제 22 호 Animal Diplomacy Through the Bao Family
Kicker: OPINION
Animal Diplomacy Through the Bao Family
By Su-Young Kim, Reporter /kimsuyoung@gmail.com
Last April, a Korean-born panda named Fubao returned to China. As much as she has been loved by people, many people are sad. Fubao was born in Korea as the daughter of Ai Bao and Le Bao, who came to Korea from China in 2016 due to China’s panda diplomacy, but she must return to China because pandas, who have reached the age of four, need to mate. From now on, let’s find out what animal diplomacy is and what examples are there, including the panda diplomacy that China is working on.
picture1 A Korean-born panda named Fubao
https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/animalpeople/human_animal/1128866.html
Animal diplomacy mainly refers to the dispatch of animals with special meanings, such as endangered and rare animals, as diplomatic special envoys to other countries. This has the advantage of being able to exert a great influence with a softer image than diplomacy in the military and economic fields. The representative animal diplomacy is China’s panda, which has become a symbol of Chinese animal diplomacy since China presented pandas to President Richard Nixon in 1972. South Korea sent ponies to the United States in April 1995 and received diplomatic specialties such as Siberian tigers in 2010, and polar bears in 2011 from Russia, and Siberian tigers and ibises from China. Let’s learn more about the history of animal diplomacy.
History of Animal Diplomacy
Giraffes, which mainly live in Africa, have been a good diplomatic gift for thousands of years. In 46 BC Caesar conquered Asia Minor and Egypt and returned to Rome, where he marched down the streets with exotic animals such as lions, leopards, monkeys, parrots, and ostriches to celebrate his victory and show off his power. Among them, the most prominent animal was the giraffe, believed to be a gift from Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. The Romans saw the giraffe and called it "Camelopardalis," saying it was a strange animal with both a long neck of a camel and a spotted pattern of a leopard. This word is still used as a scientific name for giraffes today. Since then, various rulers who ruled Egypt have conducted giraffe diplomacy. Constantinus IX of the Byzantine Empire also received a giraffe as a gift, and King Friedrich II of the Holy Roman Empire exchanged white bears for Egyptian giraffes. The Sultan Faraz of Egypt's Mamluk dynasty sent a delegation, including giraffes, to Samarkand, the capital of the Timur empire, to be seen well in the Timur empire, which ruled most of the Islamic world at the time. As you can see from the above case, animal diplomacy is one of the diplomatic methods between countries, and I found that there is a long history of mutual practice for friendly relations. But people are worried that pandas who used to live in Korea will return to China and be unable to adapt, so why did China set panda diplomacy as a rental form?
A Change in the Way of Panda Diplomacy
From the beginning, panda diplomacy was not done in the form of a lease. For example, after President Nixon's visit in 1972, the United States and China agreed to exchange animals in a friendly manner. Mao Zedong sent two pandas to the U.S. Zoo, and Nixon gave them two muskoxen in return. However, since 1984, China has not offered pandas as gifts to maintain their population. Instead, the other country receives about $1 million in rent every year on the condition of renting a 10-year lease. Rent is said to be used for panda protection and research. Thanks to these efforts, two years ago, Giant Panda's extinction rating went down one notch from "crisis" to "vulnerable." South Korea was initially awarded a panda couple, Ming Ming, and Li Li, in 1994 to commemorate the establishment of diplomatic ties between South Korea and China. But is this animal diplomacy okay for animals? From their point of view, the habitat where they live changes and various environments such as food, weather, and people suddenly change, so isn't it a selfish behavior of humans?
Ethical Animal Diplomacy
In recent years, countries that rent pandas have often returned them to China early because it is difficult to bear the cost of maintaining pandas with strict food, along with the annual rent they have to pay, When allegations of panda abuse were raised in the United States, PETA which is a global animal protection groups strongly criticized that family, friends, and social animals, like pandas, should not be forcibly dropped into their habitats and exchanged like gifts. In particular, Jason Baker, vice chairman of PETA's Asia branch, said, "Pandas are not objects that can be easily exchanged for diplomatic purposes," adding, "They are very intelligent and social animals that exist in close ties with family and friends, so they should never be exchanged randomly."
Animal diplomacy, such as panda diplomacy, is a diplomatic method that has been implemented since ancient times and continues to this day for friendly relations between the two countries. However, as interest in animal welfare is increasing, I think we should consider reflection and diplomacy in other ways and reflect on if animal diplomacy is harmful to animals.
Sources:
http://newsteacher.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2023/09/27/2023092700090.html
https://m.blog.naver.com/planet-keepers/223156224791
https://nownews.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20230304601007
