2024-07-04 03:10:16
He Chapultepec Zooin Mexico City, is in full swing with the celebration of Xin Xin’s 34th birthdaythe longest-lived giant panda in Latin America, a product of the panda diplomacy from China.
Xin Xin, born in Chapultepec on July 1, 1990, is daughter of Tohui and Chia Chiatwo pandas that were able to reproduce as part of the conservation program for this endangered species.
Xin Xin’s presence at the Chapultepec Zoo, in addition to marveling children and adults who visit the facility, is symbol of Mexico’s international relationship with China since on September 10, 1975, the giant panda couple Ying Ying and Pe Pe, Xin Xin’s grandparents, arrived in the country.
Actualmente Xin Xin, whose name means “hope”is the only giant panda in all of Latin America, as well as being one of the six longest-lived giant pandas in conservation centers worldwide.
This panda, as its name indicates, symbolizes and represents the hope that exists for the recovery of this and other wild species that are threatened or in danger of extinction.
“We have hope that the species, the giant pandas, will be preserved and survive the threats,” said Fernando Gual Sill, a veterinary zootechnician and general director of the Chapultepec Zoo.
Panda diplomacy
Panda diplomacy is a China’s unique public diplomacy strategyas it is an endemic species of that country considered a national treasure, with which it is sought to strengthen the ties of friendship and the political and economic relations of China with other countries. by sending pandas.
In 1975, China gave a pair of pandas to different countries, including the United States, Russia and England, to name a few. Pe Pe and Ying Ying arrived in Mexico when they were both one year old. This pair had seven babies, one of them was, precisely, Xin Xin’s mother and the most famous panda in the history of Mexico due to a song dedicated to her by Yuri in 1982: Tohui.
However, from 1984 to the present, panda diplomacy took a turn and became institutionalized under a loan scheme derived from the country’s accession to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora which prevented China from giving pandas as giftsnow for rent.
Pandas are now being rented out for 1 million dollars a year for 10 years to countries that are priority for China’s foreign policy, particularly in the West, as part of bilateral scientific research projects for the conservation of this species.
As part of the agreement, in case The couple have cubs, they belong to Chinawhich is why they are forced to return to that country.
Mexico, the exception
On February 14, 1972, the People’s Republic of China and Mexico established diplomatic relations after the supportin October of the previous year, of the then President Luis Echeverria, to that country for entry at the United Nations Organization (HIM).
Three years later, at the request of the then president Echeverría, his Chinese counterpart Mao Zedong agreed to give a pair of pandas (Pe Pe and Ying Ying). For this reason, the pandas were exempt from strict lending policieswhich allowed the Chapultepec Zoo to implement an ambitious and successful conservation and captive reproduction program for the giant panda for 5 decades, and for its offspring to remain in Mexico, as is the case of Xin Xin, the only Mexican panda.
“It is the only panda in the world that is not of Chinese origin and will soon be the only panda on the American continent,” said Gual Sill.
However, given Xin Xin’s inability to procreate, and the specimen being considered to be already in a geriatric age at 34 years old, His death could mean the end of Panda diplomacy in Mexico since there is currently no known negotiation between China and Mexico for the acquisition of new pandas.
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2024-07-04 03:10:16