panda diplomacy en · NOUN
Etymology
The term was first used in the Cold War.
Meanings
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(uncountable) The practice of China gifting or loaning giant pandas to other countries as a symbol of friendship and goodwill in order to strengthen diplomatic ties.
Panda diplomacy, in its current form, works like this: China loans pandas to a zoo in the United States or another country, and the zoo pays an annual fee — usually $500,000 to $1 million each — to keep the pandas for at least a few years. The animals serve as good-will ambassadors for China while, experts said, softening the country’s authoritarian image and drawing attention away from its record of human rights abuses.
2022 February 13, Alyssa Lukpat, “50 Years Later, Some Question Value of U.S.-China ‘Panda Diplomacy’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
Coordinates
Relateds
gunboat diplomacy · panda hugger · commodity diplomacy · ping-pong diplomacy · hostage diplomacy