China’s Panda diplomacy tested as fight erupts over Fu Bao
SEOUL—China’s panda diplomacy isn’t looking so cuddly all of a sudden. Beijing is accused of mistreating Fu Bao, a recently returned female panda from South Korea. The 4-year-old panda has a following in South Korea akin to a pop star, with merchandise, online fan groups and even birthday billboards.
The unprecedented backlash threatens the potency of one of China’s few unassailable tools of soft power. The controversy over Fu Bao comes at a sensitive time for China, with relations between the U.S. and its allies strained over trade disputes, military aggression around Taiwan and Beijing’s support for Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
For decades, the world seemed to have agreed to leave partisanship out of pandas. The only major flashpoint in recent years has come over the deaths of pandas at zoos in Thailand and Memphis, which raised suspicions of mistreatment and caused public outrage in China. But this week, fans of Fu Bao cried foul.
Helping channel the condemnation was La Kyong-min, a 25-year-old office worker in Seoul. She co-runs South Korea’s largest online community of supporters for the Korea-born Fu Bao, who had resided at a theme park and zoo owned by Samsung. Fu Bao returned to China in early April and now resides at a state-run panda sanctuary in the province of Sichuan.
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