{"id":443655,"date":"2026-01-28T20:27:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443655\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T20:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:27:24","slug":"japan-says-goodbye-to-its-last-pandas-as-relations-with-beijing-deteriorate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443655\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan says goodbye to its last pandas as relations with Beijing deteriorate"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can tell a lot about the state of a country’s relationship with China by the pandas.<\/p>\n

The fluffy black and white bears are more than just a tourist attraction given on loan to governments around the world.<\/p>\n

They are basically diplomats, traditionally posted in foreign countries to strengthen relations.<\/p>\n

But in the case of China, what’s given can always be taken away.<\/p>\n

This week, Japan has said goodbye to its two remaining Chinese pandas as a diplomatic rift deepens between Tokyo and Beijing.<\/p>\n

It means Japan is now without the treasured animals for the first time since relations were established with China in 1972.<\/p>\n

And while it might seem largely symbolic to some, the panda departure actually demonstrates a significant crisis in North-East Asian politics that has no resolution on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Japan and Beijing’s deteriorating relations<\/p>\n

The start of the breakdown came in late 2025 when newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could trigger a military response from her country.<\/p>\n

\"Sanae<\/p>\n

Sanae Takaichi has found herself in a prolonged diplomatic spat with China. (Reuters: David Mareuil)<\/p>\n

The bold comments crossed what Beijing refers to as a “red line” \u2014 that is, outside interference in issues around China’s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

China claims the independently governed island as its own territory and has long-held plans to take control of Taiwan.<\/p>\n

It continuously pressures governments around the world to steer clear of what it sees as a China-only issue.<\/p>\n

The China-Japan diplomatic row<\/a><\/p>\n

China was already wary about Japan’s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, a renowned Beijing hawk, before she weighed in on one of its most sensitive issues: Taiwan.<\/p>\n

In response to Takaichi’s remarks, Beijing went on the offensive, starting with wielding economic pressure.<\/p>\n

It cut flights and warned its citizens against travelling to Japan, then banned Japanese products such as seafood under the guise of health and safety.<\/p>\n

Next came export controls on “dual-use items”, which are goods, technologies or software that can have both civilian and military applications.<\/p>\n

That includes rare earth elements that are essential for making drones and computer chips.<\/p>\n

Now, it’s the pandas.<\/p>\n

Japan says goodbye to its pandas<\/p>\n

Twin cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were given an emotional farewell viewing before being returned to China this week.<\/p>\n

And while the departure of the pair had been part of a long-term plan, Beijing is yet to sign-off on any new contracts to have pandas housed in Japan.<\/p>\n

\"Visitors<\/p>\n

Pandas are no longer given as gifts\u00a0\u2014 they’re leased for $1 million a year each. (Reuters: Kim Kyung-Hoon)<\/p>\n

Throughout the spiral, China has been demanding one significant concession from Takaichi: an apology, which she has refused to do.<\/p>\n

In fact, her popularity in Japan appears to have been buoyed by her tougher approach to Beijing.<\/p>\n

And she’s called a snap election for next month, hoping to capitalise on the growing support.<\/p>\n

Crisis with Beijing could have long-term impact<\/p>\n

Japan has also been recalibrating its military position during the ongoing furore.<\/p>\n

It has announced a massive increase in defence spending and moved away from purely defensive weapons to acquire counterstrike capabilities such as long-range missiles.<\/p>\n

All of which has put China even more on edge.<\/p>\n

\"Xi<\/p>\n

Japan reduced its reliance on China given the export controls placed on rare earths. (Reuters: Ludovic Marin)<\/p>\n

While diplomatic spats between China and Japan are nothing new, this fracture seems to be deepening with each passing week.<\/p>\n

Japan launches ambitious deep-sea mining plan<\/a><\/p>\n

Tokyo hopes the plan to mine possibly 16 million tonnes of rare earths will help reduce its reliance on China, but will it work?<\/p>\n

On Monday, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry again claimed Chinese citizens would not be safe in Japan.<\/p>\n

Analysts fear the diplomatic tension could escalate into a military conflict if both sides continue to ratchet up their approach.<\/p>\n

And it seems both countries are more determined than ever to project strength towards each other \u2014 or viewed in another light, an unwavering inability to repair the growing rift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You can tell a lot about the state of a country’s relationship with China by the pandas. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,512,26787,941,52317,128,338],"class_list":["post-443655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-diplomacy","tag-japan","tag-panda","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}