We made a big mistake placing all of our panda-related needs on a decades-old international treaty. Absolute classic diplomatic blunder:
The National Zoo's three giant pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — are set to return to China in early December with no public signs that the 50-year-old exchange agreement struck by President Richard Nixon will continue.
I dunno about you but that really gets my good ol' American hackles up.
I mean okay, I guess they were never really our pandas to begin with. Still, it's frustrating to see such a beloved attraction be subject to bitter ChiCom political maneuvers:
With diplomatic tensions running high between Beijing and a number of Western governments, China appears to be gradually pulling back its pandas from multiple Western zoos as their agreements expire.
The country "currently lends out 65 pandas to 19 countries through 'cooperative research programs'" with the aim of growing the panda population throughout the world. The pandas normally "return to China when they reach old age and any cubs born are sent to China around age 3 or 4."
Well, presumably China can care for them just as well as we can. Although Matt Walsh, for one, thinks these giant bears — who are famously hard to keep alive and are notoriously prone to dying — shouldn't be fussed over so much:
Whether they survive or not, I guess it won't be in American zoos that it happens. Thanks a lot, China!
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