Mario Mancuso appears on WTOP to discuss panda diplomacy.
Episode Transcript
Michelle Basch: Thanks for being with us, Mario. It鈥檚 no secret the relationship between China and the U.S. is frosty. So how does a deal like this get done? And how does each country benefit?
Mario Mancuso: Good morning. Well, this is a an incredible transition. I think panda diplomacy is really important. And I鈥檒l just remind the audience that, in the last few years, what we鈥檝e been hearing from China is 鈥渨olf warrior鈥� diplomacy. So this is the opposite.
This deal apparently got done last fall . And it was a sign, I think, that the Chinese leadership was realizing that its current approach to diplomacy really wasn鈥檛 working. It wasn鈥檛 in the words of Dale Carnegie, you know, making friends and influencing people. That鈥檚 where the pandas come in. Because pandas are beloved around the world. And I myself remember when our kids were young, actually watching them online at the National Zoo鈥檚 webcam. So I, for one, am also excited.
John Aaron: But at the end of the day, it is a couple of bears, Mario, and we do have our significant differences with China 鈥� Do those things just get put on the back burner for now, so we can talk about the happy stuff?
Mario Mancuso: John, you put your finger on something important: Nothing about the pandas, as beloved as they are, changes the fundamental dynamics of the U.S.-China relationship. China is still a strategic competitor to the United States 鈥� nothing about that changes. In the meantime, the Chinese will try to, as best they can, soften the edges. And so while nothing changes, China has used the pandas to, again, soften the edges 鈥� not just with the United States, but with other countries around the world.
For example, after the Malaysian aircraft went down in 2014, there was a period of time where the Chinese government and the Malaysians were at odds and as a sign of sort of reconciliation, if you will, the Chinese gave them pandas.
The Chinese government is known to do this. It鈥檚 done this over many, many years. The practice of panda diplomacy goes back to the Tang dynasty 鈥� the seventh century. And nothing changes in a big structural sense between the United States and China. But if it makes a few kids smile, that鈥檚 OK, too.
Michelle Basch: There is the overall effort to preserve these bears going forward. And of course, the hope is that maybe there can be another panda baby or two here in D.C. That鈥檚 part of this, right?
Mario Mancuso: Absolutely. There鈥檚 the scientific sense 鈥� Pandas were endangered for a long time 鈥� they are no longer endangered, thank goodness. And so the bears will come to D.C. It鈥檚 a decades-long agreement. There will be some research that will go along with that. So there鈥檚 some clear scientific aspects to this.
But I think, make no mistake, putting aside what officials at the National Zoo may think, this is really about public diplomacy for China. This is really about softening the edges of the People鈥檚 Republic in important countries around the world, including the United States.
And again, it doesn鈥檛 change 鈥� to John鈥檚 earlier point 鈥� it doesn鈥檛 change the nature of the U.S.-China relationship.
But it is nevertheless, if you will, a kind of lull 鈥� it creates a space where you know, again, maybe some of the edges of that relationship can be taken off without changing clearly what鈥檚 fundamentally at stake for the governments as a whole.