The Guardian-Finland zoo will return its giant pandas to China blaming inflation
September 25, 2024 2 min 373 words
西方媒体的这篇报道内容总结： 芬兰阿赫蒂动物园（Ahtari Zoo）计划提前八年将两只大熊猫 Lumi和 Pyry送回中国，并指责通货膨胀和养护成本上升。这两只熊猫是2018年1月习近平访问后，根据保护动物的联合协议借给芬兰的。动物园方面表示，熊猫养护设施的投资超过800万欧元，每年还需150万欧元养护费用。动物园曾希望熊猫能吸引游客，但疫情影响了旅游业，导致负债累累。在谈判三年后，动物园做出了这一商业决定，预计熊猫将进行一个月的隔离后运回中国。 评论： 西方媒体的这篇报道有其偏见之处，但同时也反映出一些值得关注的问题。报道中存在偏见的地方主要是隐含地将大熊猫送回中国描述为一件负面事件，并强调了芬兰方面的经济困难，而忽略了中国方面在保护大熊猫和加强外交关系方面的努力。然而，报道也揭示了大熊猫外交在实际操作中面临的一些挑战。大熊猫的养护成本高昂，疫情等不可控因素可能会影响动物园吸引游客的计划，从而导致经济困难。因此，在开展大熊猫外交时，需要全面考虑各种因素，制定完善的应对措施，确保大熊猫的养护工作能够长期稳定地进行。
A zoo in Finland has blamed rising inflation and upkeep costs for its decision to return two giant pandas to China, more than eight years ahead of the date they were set to go back.
The pandas, named Lumi and Pyry, were brought to Finland in January 2018, months after Chinese president Xi Jinping visited the Nordic country and signed a joint agreement on protecting the animals.
The Finnish agreement was for a stay of 15 years, but instead the pandas will soon go into a month-long quarantine before they are shipped back to China, according to Ahtari Zoo, the pandas’ current home.
The zoo, a private company, had invested over 8m euros ($8.92m) in the facility where the animals live and faced annual costs of 1.5m euros for their upkeep, including a preservation fee paid to China, Ahtari chair Risto Sivonen told the Reuters news agency.
Since its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China has sent pandas to foreign zoos to strengthen trading ties, cement foreign relations and boost its international image.
The zoo had hoped the pandas would attract visitors to the central Finland location but last year said it had instead accumulated mounting debts as the pandemic curbed travel, and that it was discussing a return.
Rising inflation had added to the costs, the zoo said, and Finland’s government in 2023 rejected pleas for state funding. In all, negotiations to return the animals had lasted three years, Sivonen said.
“Now we reached a point where the Chinese said it could be done,” Sivonen said.
The return of the pandas was a business decision made by the zoo which did not involve Finland’s government and should not impact relations between the two countries, a spokesperson for Finland’s foreign ministry said.
Despite efforts by China to aid the zoo, the two countries in the end jointly concluded after friendly consultations to return the pandas, the Chinese embassy in Helsinki said in a statement to Reuters.