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 sai...