Why China rents out its pandas

Panda diplomacy in action

The Economist explains --Jan 18th 2019

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PANDAS: CUTE, popular and expensive. So expensive, in fact, that the Malaysian government has reportedly considered handing its two adult pandas back to China, the country from which all pandas originate. As part of an agreement made in 2014 by its then prime minister, Najib Razak, Malaysia must pay China $1m each year to rent the bears until 2024. The new Malaysian government, which took power in May 2018, has been reviewing the deal, and this month the leader, Mahathir Mohamad, had to refute ministerial claims that the pandas would be returned early. Why does Malaysia have to pay so much?

China has offered pandas as gifts since the seventh century, when Empress Wu sent two bears to Japan. The tradition resurfaced under Mao Zedong. Russia and North Korea were given pandas during the cold war, and America got a pair after President Nixon’s China trip in 1972. By giving its national animal to a foreign power, China is able to emphasise the closeness of political ties. But as China has grown increasingly capitalist, pandas have become an economic tool as well. Instead of giving them away, in the 1980s China started loaning them for $50,000 per month, with the bears and any offspring remaining Chinese property. But the bears were not offered to just any country. Kathleen Buckingham and Paul Jepson of Oxford University found recent panda loans coincided with trade deals that China had signed in Scotland, Canada and France. They argue that pandas form a key part of guanxi–reciprocal relationships that can establish deeper and more trusting bonds between countries.
//熊猫外交解释描述

The animals’ diplomatic importance has led to some controversy. In 2010 a pair of American-born panda cubs were returned to China just two days after China had expressed anger at Barack Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama. The National Zoo in Washington had asked for an extension of the loan deal for one cub, but China refused and both cubs were brought back. The timing was interpreted by some as an act of punishment. Panda issues have also clouded China’s relationship with Taiwan: China’s offer of two bears in 2005 was declined by Taiwan’s then pro-independence government, which objected to their names (a play on the Chinese word for “united”). A later sinophile government accepted the bears as part of a strategy of strengthening ties across the Taiwan Strait.
//产生的矛盾

Some take issue with the very idea of loaning pandas. When two pandas were brought to Edinburgh Zoo a few years ago, Ross Minett, the campaign director of a local animal-welfare charity, said the bears were “being exploited as diplomatic pawns in a commercial deal”. The zoo itself may not have objected: its visitor numbers increased by 4m in the two years after the bears’ arrival. Thanks in part to pressure from the World Wildlife Fund, China is meant to spend the panda rents on conservation. Whether it does so is not clear, but the number of research and conservation bases has quadrupled in the past 40 years. Increasing the size of the wild panda population is proving a rather tougher task, though. There were 1,100 bears in 1976; now there are 1,864.
//正反观点+解决做法

Passage Structure

Why China rents out its pandas
Panda diplomacy in action

• 由题目知道文章主题: 中国的熊猫外交
• 进而推测文章结构: 现象+解释+评价/观点

1. PANDAS: CUTE, popular and expensive. So expensive, in fact, that

• <段意:熊猫贵>

{
[这部分举例说明——可忽略]
the Malaysian government has reportedly considered handing its two adult pandas back to China, the country from which all pandas originate.
//<怎么贵?描述事件>
As part of an agreement made in 2014 by its then prime minister, Najib Razak, Malaysia must pay China $1m each year to rent the bears until 2024./
The new(新旧对比) Malaysian government, which took power in May 2018, has been reviewing the deal, /
and this month the leader, Mahathir Mohamad, had to refute(取反) ministerial claims that the pandas would be returned early. /(三个斜体,同义替换)
//<事件原因:贵>
}
Why does Malaysia have to pay so much?

• <为什么贵?开始引出对于熊猫外交的评价>

2. China has offered pandas as gifts since the seventh century, when Empress Wu sent two bears to Japan. The tradition resurfaced under Mao Zedong. Russia and North Korea were given pandas during the cold war, and America got a pair after President Nixon’s China trip in 1972.

• By giving its national animal to a foreign power, China is able to emphasize the closeness of political ties.
• But as China has grown increasingly capitalist, pandas have become an economic tool as well.

Instead of giving them away, in the 1980s China started loaning them for $50,000 per month, with the bears and any offspring remaining Chinese property. But the bears were not offered to just any country. Kathleen Buckingham and Paul Jepson of Oxford University found recent panda loans coincided with trade deals that China had signed in Scotland, Canada and France. They argue that pandas form a key part of guanxi–reciprocal relationships that can establish deeper and more trusting bonds between countries.

3. • The animals’ diplomatic importance has led to some controversy.

• <熊猫外交引发的矛盾>

In 2010 a pair of American-born panda cubs were returned to China just two days after China had expressed anger at Barack Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama. The National Zoo in Washington had asked for an extension of the loan deal for one cub, but China refused and both cubs were brought back. The timing was interpreted by some as an act of punishment.
//Panda issues have also clouded China’s relationship with Taiwan: China’s offer of two bears in 2005 was declined by Taiwan’s then pro-independence government, which objected to their names (a play on the Chinese word for “united”). A later sinophile government accepted the bears as part of a strategy of strengthening ties across the Taiwan Strait.

4. Some take issue with the very idea of loaning pandas.

• <争论>

When two pandas were brought to Edinburgh Zoo a few years ago, Ross Minett, the campaign director of a local animal-welfare charity, said the bears were “being exploited as diplomatic pawns in a commercial deal”.
//The zoo itself may not have objected: its visitor numbers increased by 4m in the two years after the bears’ arrival.

//Thanks in part to pressure from the World Wildlife Fund, China is meant to spend the panda rents on conservation. Whether it does so is not clear, but the number of research and conservation bases has quadrupled in the past 40 years. Increasing the size of the wild panda population is proving a rather tougher task, though. There were 1,100 bears in 1976; now there are 1,864.

Words & Phrases

1. Reportedly: 据说

• He was in El Salvador, reportedly on his way to Texas.

2. Take power 政权上台
   If people take power or come to power, they take charge of a country's affairs. If a group of people are in power, they are in charge of a country's affairs.

3. Review the deal : assess/examine the agreement

4. Refute claims:deny or contradict 反驳(a statement or accusation).

5. reciprocal relationships 互惠互利的关系

• Tips: re-回, pro-去, 一去一回:互惠互利
• 增加字数Tips——解释说明:''form reciprocal relationships that can establish deeper and more trusting bonds between ''

6. cloud one's relationship with

7. Then: adj. 当时的

• Taiwan’s then pro-independence government
• the then mayor of New York, Mr X
  当时的纽约市市长某某先生

8. object to (someone or something)
   To oppose, disagree with, or disapprove of someone or something.

• I know the board members object to the spending increase, but I really think it is vital for the company's success.
• My parents have always objected to the women I date, so I just don't tell them about my love life anymore.

9. take issue with someone: to argue with someone.

• I heard your last statement and I have to take issue with you.
• Tom took issue with Maggie about the cost of the house.

10. take issue with something: to disagree with or argue about something.

• I have to take issue with that statement.
• I want to take issue with the last statement you made.

11. the very idea of : very: to emphasize
    the (very) idea!: An exclamation of shocked disapproval regarding something someone said or did.

• They thought I would just go along with their plan to cut my pay while taking on more responsibility. The idea! The very idea—how dare you suggest something so horrible!

12. be exploited as diplomatic pawns 走卒 in a commercial deal