Why is America is giving up our panda to China?

America is surrendering its native-born panda to the Chinese Communists, and the Chinese Communist Party — and a premier taxpayer-funded museum and a top defense contractor are helping to foot the bill for the goodbye party.

Xiao Qi Ji, an American-born panda whose name means “little miracle,” will be shipped back to China later this month — and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is having an entire panda-fest to celebrate this humiliation.

“We are going big because they are going home,” the National Zoo boasted in its announcement of a nine-day celebration filled with screenings of Kung Fu Panda, yoga sessions and panda-themed items. “Tasty celebratory treats will be provided courtesy of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.” The panda-nappers are paying for the farewell party! 

For decades, the Chinese Communist Party has used “panda diplomacy” to cultivate a warm and fuzzy image around the globe, while simultaneously committing what the Biden administration has called a “genocide” of its Uighur population. During the Trump administration’s trade war with China, there was speculation that the DC zoo’s panda pack would be shipped back home at the end of their loan, but cooler heads prevailed, extending their stay in America a bit longer.

Much like with its shady Belt and Road dealings, which it has used to hijack much of Africa, the CCP has issued pandas as loans to countries throughout the world, deploying them as a pair of black and white handcuffs with which it constrains its adversaries.

It’s not just pandas that the CCP uses to leverage its influence around the world — and in the nation’s capital. The Spectator has previously reported on how China’s now-vanished foreign minister, Qin Gang, has addressed audiences at Washington Wizards and Capitals games from the jumbotron in panda-filled scenes that looked like they were straight out of Beijing, not Washington, DC:

“The panda mascots, played by Chinese diplomats’ children, made an impressive appearance on the court, winning loud applause and cheers from the audience,” Beijing’s DC office boasted. Soon, the only pandas left in DC will be those played by CCP children. Justice for Xiao Qi Ji, a proud component of the American melting pot!