Panda Diplomacy Revisited: State Interests and Public Emotions
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Existing scholarship on China’s ‘panda diplomacy’ emphasises that it is a highly successful form of modern public diplomacy, whose intended effects are not to impress or placate rulers, but to encourage positive feelings among the publics of the receiving countries. In this paper, we show that it is not just the feelings of receiving publics that matter in panda diplomacy. When a country allows the transfer of an animal that serves as an emotionally potent national symbol, the feelings of the sending public also matter. We examine the recent case of the illness and death of a panda at Memphis Zoo that caused outrage on Chinese social media when disturbing photos of the apparently suffering animal were posted by an American animal rights group. The Chinese state did not join in the nationalist outrage, instead offering a measured response that exonerated the American zoo. While this response helps to maintain panda diplomacy as a tool, public outrage over the treatment of pandas in foreign countries is likely to arise again in the future. The panda is a uniquely vulnerable animal for a national symbol, and its vulnerability reflects an increasing sense of both human and environmental insecurity.
About the speakers
Associate Professor David Smith is jointly appointed between the United States Studies Centre and the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney. His research examines conflicts over religion and culture in American, Australian and international politics.
Minglu Chen is in the Discipline of Government and International Relations and a member of the Management Committee China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, where she is also the Director of the Local China Project. Her research concentrates on social and political change in China, especially the interaction between entrepreneurs and the state, and women’s political participation. Her research has been published in The China Quarterly, The China Journal, Journal of Contemporary China, Journal of East Asian Studies, and The Pacific Review.
About China Studies Centre
The China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney has 121 academic members who undertake research on China. Its two flagship projects consider Local China and Sustainability and Well-being in China.
China’s size and scale are such that by both policy design and practice domestic social, political, and economic development are highly localised. The Local China Project produces research that both describes and explains social, political, and economic change through the dynamics of development at local levels.
China, as the world’s second-largest economy, faces acute environmental challenges, such as pollution and resource depletion, alongside rising public health demands. It is at a pivotal juncture where economic recovery from global shocks must align with the goals of climate resilience and societal well-being. The transformative concept of the ‘well-being economy’ shifts the research focus from GDP-driven metrics to a holistic framework prioritizing environmental sustainability, social equity, and human health.