Friday Frivolity: Panda Contracts

Panda enthusiasts know that China does not give giant pandas to American zoos. The pandas are leased, and the terms of the leases permit China to reclaim their pandas, which remain, as they put it, Chinese citizens.

Now you might think that, when these loaned pandas reproduce, we might use their offspring as anchor babies. The baby pandas, the logic would run, are natural born U.S. citizens, and then, after an appropriate time, they could apply to get citizenship for the parents.  But no, under the terms of the leases, the babies are and remain Chinese citizens, subject to repatriation within four years of birth.

Ambassador Barbara K. Bodine explains it all in this interview on the Georgetown University website.  With Washington and Atlanta due to return their pandas to China this year, there was consternation in the U.S. panda-loving community that the U.S. might be entirely bereft of pandas. We would all have to get by with Internet videos and baby sloths. However, as Jorge Garcia reports on Reuters, a new panda exhibit opened in San Diego in August. And there's more good news: it seems that Washington is going to get two young pandas later this year! Panda diplomacy is alive and well.

Thanks to OCU 1L Jacey Herrington (above right) for calling my attention to the lease agreements.

And now, a panda video. 

Enjoy the weekend.