China sends pandas abroad as envoys of goodwill but locks out ‘panda-huggers’ to control the narrative

Beijing’s ambassador to US Qin Gang celebrated the 50th anniversary of giant pandas landing in Washington, adding that ‘panda-huggers’ were endangered
While Beijing may find it useful to use pressure tactics on international China studies, it has often backfired among moderate China watchers

Shi Jiangtao

Published: 7:41pm, 6 Sep 2022

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Beijing’s top envoy to Washington recently lamented the marginalisation of pro-engagement China watchers, a fixation in bilateral ties on the cusp of an era of decoupling.

“Sadly, ‘panda-huggers’ are endangered,” ambassador Qin Gang said two weeks ago at an event marking the 50th anniversary of giant pandas arriving in the US capital, referring to engagement proponents outside China who are often criticised for being too soft on Beijing. “Now they need protection and conservation,” he said, without elaboration.

His diagnosis is obviously accurate, but it may be too late.

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For years, foreign journalists, academics and businesspeople have advocated for engagement with China, helped the outside world better understand “the China stories” Beijing is eager to tell and been an unofficial conduit of bilateral communication, especially during tumult. But now those voices are rarely heard.

Even Henry Kissinger, who used to boast of his influence over generations of Chinese and American leaders and who has, over the years, acted as Beijing’s “backchannel” to the White House, has lost his shine.

According to his interview with the New York Post in July, the 99-year-old, who has been invited to meet every president since Richard Nixon, has yet to meet Joe Biden.

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While Beijing usually blames the rise of Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump and America’s political divide for the demise of Washington’s decades-old engagement policy, China critics have almost unanimously pointed to Beijing’s nationalist, authoritarian shift in recent years.

But there is more to the story. According to a 2015 article by David Shambaugh, a leading China scholar at Georgetown University, denying visas for international academics and journalists on Beijing’s blacklists has become a tool for the Chinese government to exert control and censor criticism.

Many veteran observers have shared their experiences about how their China-related research projects were affected after being blocked from entering the country. While Perry Link and Andrew Nathan have been denied visas for co-editing The Tiananmen Papers, a compilation of leaked Chinese government documents surrounding the 1989 bloody crackdown, Elliot Sperling, an American expert on Tibetan history, was denied entry in 2014.

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Shambaugh appeared to be blacklisted by Beijing after he criticised President Xi Jinping in a 2015 opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal entitled “The Coming Chinese Crackup”.

In private, Chinese diplomats have confirmed the existence of such blacklists as part of Beijing’s efforts to “shape international opinions” towards China.

While Beijing may sometimes find it useful to use pressure tactics to extend influence on international China studies, it has often backfired among moderate China watchers. That will not help Beijing win its narrative war against Washington or avoid being alienated internationally, despite Qin’s appeal: “We need more pandas, and we also need more ‘panda-huggers’.”