Finland falls victim to China's "Panda Diplomacy"
Finland has gotten crazy over pandas. Yes, pandas. Those cuddly little creatures that have become a symbol of conservation work as the logo of the World Wildlife Fund. Ever since the Chinese leader Xi Jinping made a stop in Finland in the spring of 2017 and talked about Finland getting pandas as a gift for our 100th independence day, the country has gone crazy. This has been especially true in the last few days, as the two pandas started their journey to Finland. They landed earlier today in Helsinki and as I'm writing this, they're making their way towards their new home in Ähtäri zoo. Others were exited about the fact, as only a handful of countries outside of China actually have pandas and as such it's a rare honor, while others were a bit... let's just say reserved about it. As you already might have guessed from the title, I fall into the latter category, but before we can take a closer look on why, we have to take a more general look at the matter.
Now, as I said, the country has gone crazy over this. Especially since the pandas arrived in Finland earlier today, the media has been full of stories about this. It actually started a few days ago, as the two pandas named Jin Baobao and Hua Bao started their journey from China. Since their names might be a bit hard to remember to Finns, they were given the Finnish names Lumi and Pyry. The names actually carry a pun: In Finnish the word "lumipyry" means snowstorm. You get it? Because Finland is in the north and we get a lot of snow. Not only that, but during the last few days we've seen bit of a snowstorm. What a coincidence! Officially the pandas came to Finland as a part of the conservation project run by the Chinese government. Apparently the climate here matches very closely to the climate in their native regions in mountains of China. As a result experts have said that the circumstances for these pandas to have offspring are practically perfect, which might make Ähtäri zoo one of the few places where pandas have had cubs in captivity. So, whats wrong this? Well for one, money.
You see, all of the worlds pandas are owned by the Chinese government. Not only that, but the pandas currently in zoos across the world are actually on loan from the Chinese government. The pandas are usually loaned for ten years and on average, the zoos holding them have to pay the Chinese government about a million dollars a year for each pair of pandas. If they have a cub, you have to pay around 600 000 dollars to the Chinese government and if a panda dies while in your care you have to pay couple of hundred thousand dollars for that as well. Also, since the Chinese government officially owns all pandas, this also includes cubs born outside of China. These cubs have to be sent back to China for breeding programs before they turn four. And this doesn't even include the costs of caring for the animals. So as you can see, having pandas in your zoo can be incredibly costly.
So let's talk a bit about the zoo the two pandas will call their new home. Ähtäri zoo is located near the town of Ähtäri in central Finland. It's population is under 6000 and it has seen a significant population decline in the last 30 years, which suggests some major problems with the services there. Not only that but the zoo is at least partially owned and funded by the municipal council and the panda enclosures were actually build using tax money. Not only that, but it can be a bit difficult to get there. From Helsinki, where you most likely will land when visiting Finland, it will take at least four hours by train or bus to get to Ähtäri. There are smaller airports closer than, but flights there are a lot rarer plus, it will still take some time to get to Ähtäri. In other words, unless the zoo is able to attract a massive number of visitors to see the pandas, which considering the towns location and the lack of services can be difficult, the pandas will simply cause Finnish tax money to be paid straight to the Chinese government. And in case you didn't know, the Chinese government is one of the worst human rights violators in the world, with more execution in a year than rest of the world combined, reports of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience and generally treating dissidents horribly. Which bring us to the final point. The motivation behind "Panda Diplomacy".
To be clear, the use of pandas as diplomatic gifts has been going on in China for centuries. However, modern day version of this has some worrying aspects. Even though the official reason for this practice is conservation, the real motivation behind it is the projection of "soft power". The idea is that by loaning these cuddly animals to zoos across the world, they can fix their reputation. After all, the giant panda has become the symbol of conservation work around the world.. So by presenting themselves as a country that cares about endangered species, they can hide their horrific human rights record and the serious problems they have with pollution. I mean, if you care about animals, how can you be evil? Not only that, but the countries which get pandas loaned to them are carefully chosen. These are usually coutries that have recently made economic deals or have projects going on in China. Also, these countries usually aren't the most vocal critics of China's human rights record.
Unfortunately, I'm seeing this work. Pretty much all news stories I've seen about the pandas coming to Finland have been positive. I've been reading some of the comments on these stories and there really are just two kinds of comments: those celebrating the arrival of the pandas and people feeling sorry for them for being in captivity. Apart from myself, I've only seen one or two comments calling out China's questionable motivations for this "act of good will".
Now, since very few people seem to be willing to call out China on their human rights records, how about we join our forces to support a group that does? You see, my 21st birthday is in two weeks and because of that, Facebook suggested I use this occasion to hold a fundraiser for a non-profit that I support. I decided to take this chance and chose Amnesty International. The money raised will go to the Finnish branch Amnesty International. Most of the money will be used on their campaigns in Finland and about one quarter to international campaigns. Link to that is here. The fundraiser will continue until the first of March. Even small donations will help.
UPDATE: Now, after a whole day of non-stop positive coverage from the media about the pandas, I'm starting to see critical stories about this. Yeah, nice job media. First you spend the whole day talking positively about this "gift" and then you change your view on this.
Now, as I said, the country has gone crazy over this. Especially since the pandas arrived in Finland earlier today, the media has been full of stories about this. It actually started a few days ago, as the two pandas named Jin Baobao and Hua Bao started their journey from China. Since their names might be a bit hard to remember to Finns, they were given the Finnish names Lumi and Pyry. The names actually carry a pun: In Finnish the word "lumipyry" means snowstorm. You get it? Because Finland is in the north and we get a lot of snow. Not only that, but during the last few days we've seen bit of a snowstorm. What a coincidence! Officially the pandas came to Finland as a part of the conservation project run by the Chinese government. Apparently the climate here matches very closely to the climate in their native regions in mountains of China. As a result experts have said that the circumstances for these pandas to have offspring are practically perfect, which might make Ähtäri zoo one of the few places where pandas have had cubs in captivity. So, whats wrong this? Well for one, money.
You see, all of the worlds pandas are owned by the Chinese government. Not only that, but the pandas currently in zoos across the world are actually on loan from the Chinese government. The pandas are usually loaned for ten years and on average, the zoos holding them have to pay the Chinese government about a million dollars a year for each pair of pandas. If they have a cub, you have to pay around 600 000 dollars to the Chinese government and if a panda dies while in your care you have to pay couple of hundred thousand dollars for that as well. Also, since the Chinese government officially owns all pandas, this also includes cubs born outside of China. These cubs have to be sent back to China for breeding programs before they turn four. And this doesn't even include the costs of caring for the animals. So as you can see, having pandas in your zoo can be incredibly costly.
So let's talk a bit about the zoo the two pandas will call their new home. Ähtäri zoo is located near the town of Ähtäri in central Finland. It's population is under 6000 and it has seen a significant population decline in the last 30 years, which suggests some major problems with the services there. Not only that but the zoo is at least partially owned and funded by the municipal council and the panda enclosures were actually build using tax money. Not only that, but it can be a bit difficult to get there. From Helsinki, where you most likely will land when visiting Finland, it will take at least four hours by train or bus to get to Ähtäri. There are smaller airports closer than, but flights there are a lot rarer plus, it will still take some time to get to Ähtäri. In other words, unless the zoo is able to attract a massive number of visitors to see the pandas, which considering the towns location and the lack of services can be difficult, the pandas will simply cause Finnish tax money to be paid straight to the Chinese government. And in case you didn't know, the Chinese government is one of the worst human rights violators in the world, with more execution in a year than rest of the world combined, reports of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience and generally treating dissidents horribly. Which bring us to the final point. The motivation behind "Panda Diplomacy".
To be clear, the use of pandas as diplomatic gifts has been going on in China for centuries. However, modern day version of this has some worrying aspects. Even though the official reason for this practice is conservation, the real motivation behind it is the projection of "soft power". The idea is that by loaning these cuddly animals to zoos across the world, they can fix their reputation. After all, the giant panda has become the symbol of conservation work around the world.. So by presenting themselves as a country that cares about endangered species, they can hide their horrific human rights record and the serious problems they have with pollution. I mean, if you care about animals, how can you be evil? Not only that, but the countries which get pandas loaned to them are carefully chosen. These are usually coutries that have recently made economic deals or have projects going on in China. Also, these countries usually aren't the most vocal critics of China's human rights record.
Unfortunately, I'm seeing this work. Pretty much all news stories I've seen about the pandas coming to Finland have been positive. I've been reading some of the comments on these stories and there really are just two kinds of comments: those celebrating the arrival of the pandas and people feeling sorry for them for being in captivity. Apart from myself, I've only seen one or two comments calling out China's questionable motivations for this "act of good will".
Now, since very few people seem to be willing to call out China on their human rights records, how about we join our forces to support a group that does? You see, my 21st birthday is in two weeks and because of that, Facebook suggested I use this occasion to hold a fundraiser for a non-profit that I support. I decided to take this chance and chose Amnesty International. The money raised will go to the Finnish branch Amnesty International. Most of the money will be used on their campaigns in Finland and about one quarter to international campaigns. Link to that is here. The fundraiser will continue until the first of March. Even small donations will help.
UPDATE: Now, after a whole day of non-stop positive coverage from the media about the pandas, I'm starting to see critical stories about this. Yeah, nice job media. First you spend the whole day talking positively about this "gift" and then you change your view on this.
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