Giant panda new ‘evil’ to US anti-China lawmakers

[superadmin]

Former US president Richard Nixon, a Republican, made a historic trip to China in 1972, unveiling a new page for US-China relations. But 50 years later, more Republicans take China as a threat with an ideology-centered perspective, as some even began manipulating the symbols of peace and love like the panda and long-term giant panda cooperation research, and breeding programs between China and zoos overseas have now become a new target for the anti-China campaign. The trend reflects a failing country and hysteria of some US politicians, Chinese experts said. 

By combining the latest panda bill introduced by Republican Nancy Mace with a decades-long tradition between China and the US in terms of offering pandas as a gesture of friendship, the New York Times ran an article on Sunday questioning whether it's time to change such a tradition, with so-called experts saying that pandas are seen as a way of "softening China's authoritarian image."

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