Writer/ Hu Yi knife
The ice piers have been loved by athletes and netizens in many countries, which has made some American politicians very irritable.
In order to oppose China, they even let go of China's pandas?
Such a strange thing is really "living for a long time" in the United States, where political polarization has reached a crazy level. These people describe the panda as "China's tool to soften its authoritarian image."
There are also U.S. congressmen who have wildly proposed a bill to refuse to send U.S.-born pandas back to China, and as long as pandas born in Zoos in the United States, they should "stay in the United States."
To put it bluntly, this exposes that some US politicians have been unable to come up with any new means in the anti-China aspect, and the previous means have failed to play the expected effect, and under the extreme weakness of heart and psychological darkness, they have targeted the Chinese pandas that have left a "cute" impression on the vast majority of people.
Some experts told "Patch Up a Knife" that the ultimate goal of these anti-China politicians in the United States is to materialize the "image of Chinese diplomacy in the eyes of Americans", equate "Chinese pandas" with them, and then change the impression and favorability of ordinary Americans on China.
01
The New York Times recently published an article discussing China's "panda diplomacy." The article is titled "50 years later, some people question the value of 'panda diplomacy' between the United States and China", and it is already clear what kind of signal it wants to convey.
February 1972, 50 years ago, was arguably the most important turning point in Sino-US relations.
With the "ping-pong diplomacy" of 1971, both China and the United States were willing to further ease diplomatic relations with each other. As a result, secret negotiations between China and the United States began. Dr. Kissinger paid a secret visit to China and held talks with Chinese leaders, and both sides showed a positive and optimistic attitude toward the improvement of relations.
On February 21, 1972, then-US President Richard Nixon arrived in Beijing and was welcomed by Premier Zhou Enlai and other Chinese leaders. On February 28, the Sino-US Shanghai Joint Communiqué was published, announcing the normalization of Sino-US relations. Since then, the relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America have entered a new historical period.
It was in February of that year that China presented a pair of giant pandas to the United States to commemorate this important moment of friendship between China and the United States.
However, even a friendly move of epoch-making significance, which has been recognized by history, was slandered by the New York Times as Engaging in "Panda Diplomacy" for China. The giant pandas "act as goodwill ambassadors for China while softening China's authoritarian image and diverting attention from its record of human rights abuses.".
Professor of Politics at Columbia University in the United States specializing in Chinese political and foreign policy, Andrew M. According to Andrew J. Nathan, "It's actually part of soft power, and pandas look cute and likable." So he thinks, "It's very much in line with the image of friendship diplomacy."
However, some POLITICIANS IN THE UNITED STATES DO NOT SEE IT THIS WAY.
The New York Times article referred to a statement issued by Republican Nancy Mays of the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 2 this year. She announced at the time that she planned to propose an amendment to prevent U.S.-born pandas from being sent back to China. And the purpose behind her operation has long been seen through, that is, to oppose China for the sake of opposing China.
According to the Fox News website at the time, Metz declared in a statement that "whether born in the United States or in other countries, giant pandas are considered Chinese and must eventually return to China." But she said wildly, "Giant pandas born in the United States should stay in our country." ”
What is even more outrageous is that in explaining the reasons for this, Metz began to use strong words, advocating that he wanted to say "no" to China, and even used the so-called "human rights issue" that some anti-China politicians have always said to himself as an excuse.
Moreover, Metz's goal is to incorporate the amendment into the U.S. Competition Act, which is designed to help the United States gain an advantage over competitors such as China in science and technology.
Panda, can it even catch up with the United States to gain "competitive scientific and technological advantages against China"? How bizarre is that!
As a result, on foreign social media, many netizens directly reprimanded the US congressman for "not doing the right thing."
"Tell the truth? The problem we face is much more serious than sending the giant pandas back to China. I hope our Conservative politicians will focus on getting America back on track. ”
Someone else poked at Mace directly.
"I'm sure it has less to do with the panda, it's more about her going to do anything she can against China..... ”
Currently, three zoos in the United States lease pandas from China: the National Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, and Zoo Memphis. Even the New York Times article had to admit that pandas were popular in the United States.
The San Diego Zoo had giant pandas from 1996 to 2019. Donald Lindbergh, the zoo's former director of giant panda research, said the animals have an enduring appeal to zoos and visitors alike, "they're popular, and many, many people come to see them."
As early as ten years ago, on video social media, a video of a giant panda sneezing at the National Zoo in the United States had tens of millions of clicks.
The New York Times article also attracted discussion from netizens, some netizens believed that "pandas have no political intentions like koalas", and some netizens believed that "the only people who ask this question are war speculators, that is, defense contractors."
02
As mentioned earlier, the panda became the "friendly messenger" of China and the United States, which was the decision of the leaders of China and the United States at that time. In 1972, at the luncheon of US President Richard Nixon's visit to China, Premier Zhou Enlai announced this special "gift".
On April 16 of that year, the female giant panda "Lingling" and the male giant panda "Xingxing" flew to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. to settle down. What the United States gave to China at that time was a pair of musk oxen.
Today, China has stopped donating giant pandas to the outside world out of long-term consideration for the protection of giant pandas and the long-term consideration of species reproduction. After research, the China Wildlife Conservation Association and international animal protection agencies have reached an agreement that has been used today: China will send a pair of healthy and fertile giant pandas abroad for a 10-year cooperative research in order to better take care of overseas giant pandas and protect this animal population.
In addition, China's suspension of gifts of giant pandas to the outside world is not related to the "soaring value" of giant pandas. Although rents may seem high, the $1 million a year rent is not "enjoyed" by China, but is used for the conservation and breeding of giant pandas in China. While foreign countries are contributing money, China, as the other party to the cooperation plan, has invested more human, material and financial resources in this regard.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying once said that pandas are cute and cute, not only are China's "national treasures", but also deeply welcomed and loved by people around the world, and are messengers and bridges of friendship between China and foreign countries, promoting cultural integration and people-to-people exchanges between China and foreign countries. At the same time, as the flagship species in the field of wildlife conservation, the giant panda has also played an active role in promoting global biodiversity conservation.
In fact, those anti-China members of the US Congress, in order to become famous, no matter what strange bills may be proposed. In their minds, there is only politics, ideology, and the influence they have gained. They don't take into account the actual interests of Americans at all, and these politicians can do anything for political purposes.
For example, this Nancy Mays has also introduced a marijuana legalization bill in the House of Representatives, calling for the legalization of marijuana at the federal level and regulating the use of marijuana like alcohol. Currently, some states in the United States allow adults to use marijuana, but at the federal level, marijuana is still illegal.
Therefore, there is media analysis that Metz's approach is to cater to the preferences of voters in some regions, as well as the interests of some capitalists.
In recent years, because American conservatives believe that China's power growth has narrowed the gap between China and the United States, it is difficult for the United States to sit firmly in the position of the "world's number one power", and once China replaces the position of the United States as the world's largest GDP, then the United States will fall from the "city on the top of the mountain".
Those "American exceptionalism", "Western civilization superiority" and so on will be subverted, and the pride of Anglo-Saxon culture will be seriously impacted, which is unacceptable to the conservative group in the United States. Therefore, they have adopted a more drastic strategy of curbing China and opposing China.
In this atmosphere, they have portrayed China as a new "national rival" in an attempt to reverse the American people's view of China and promote public opinion to change their understanding of the "image of China." To put it bluntly, they are pulling down the American people's goodwill toward China. Therefore, the so-called "human rights" and "democracy" have become their tools to attack China.
Now, the panda, which best represents China's image, has also become their target and tool. For example, some scholars who study Sino-US issues have told the "patch up a knife" that in the circle of scholars in the United States, all scholars who have had more contacts with China in the past and have a better understanding of The actual situation in China have been dubbed "panda faction" or "embracing panda faction" by some conservatives.
Compared with the objective description of the "Zhihua school" in the past, this obviously has more subjective overtones and is biased towards the negative. It alludes to "obeying China's words regardless of U.S. interests," thus combining the meaning of "panda" with "superficially friendly, but hiding its true purpose" to achieve the goal of slandering China.
03
According to the news previously released by relevant institutions in China and the United States, China and the United States have renewed the cooperation agreement, and the time for the giant panda "Meixiang" family of three to stay in the United States will be extended for another 3 years.
According to the agreement, the 22-year-old female giant panda "Meixiang", the 23-year-old male giant panda "Tim", and the cub "Little Miracle" born in August 2020 will return to China in December 2023.
Although the ultra-conservative faction in the United States has always spared no effort to cut off the ties between China and the United States and to use all means to undermine Sino-US relations, it is undeniable that the giant panda, as an important witness to the establishment of Sino-US diplomatic relations, occupies a very important position in Sino-US diplomatic relations.
Today, Chinese pandas have transformed into ice piers and become "global stars". Such soft power naturally makes some anti-China people in the United States very jealous and dissatisfied.
As the media said, the ice pier is precisely exporting Chinese culture and ideas to the outside world, telling the Chinese story to the world, just like Zhang Yimou said, "I believe you will like it, this is cultural self-confidence"!
An expert on the United States told "Make Up a Knife" that those extreme anti-China politicians in the United States think that Chinese pandas are terrible, which actually reflects their growing lack of self-confidence in their hearts.
At present, some US parliamentarians and politicians, instead of looking for the cause of the problem from the United States itself, are increasingly believing that "the amiable and cute image of the panda representative confuses their understanding of China", and always feel that China has deceived the United States, so China has developed faster than the United States.
They argue that China's reliance on this disguise has led to a "mistake" or "mistake" in U.S. Policy toward China over the past few decades. In this case, in the eyes of some extreme politicians, it is necessary to adjust the "concept of pandas" of ordinary Americans as an offensive tool, which is more conducive to the implementation and implementation of the current US China policy.
Returning the original giant panda to China and leaving the giant panda born in the United States is itself a move to politicize the "panda issue". This is artificially creating confrontation and tearing. This proposal by the US congressman is closely related to the background of the adjustment of the US China policy.
The expert believes that in the United States, efforts are being made to mobilize to fully vilify China's image. Extreme politicians in the United States want to use the "panda split" to make American society and people form an extremely negative consensus on China. To this end, they have geopoliticated all the China-related issues they can think of.
Giant pandas can become "hostages" in the eyes of anti-China politicians in the United States, and they may do even more outrageous things next. We also have to be prepared.
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