Resumen de And What About the Animals? A Case Study Comparison Between China’s Panda Diplomacy and Australia’s Koala Diplomacy
In a global scale of public diplomacy strategies that use nonhuman animals, two of the main representative species are the panda (China) and the koala (Australia). Both species embody several symbolic meanings and are mostly known as cuddly and cute, and their actual lives as diplomatic objects are not usually considered. That is, their perspectives, needs and individuality as subjects outside of their potential benefits for these countries are not commonly addressed when analysing public diplomacy that uses nonhuman animals —usually known as animal diplomacy —. The comparative literature review conducted in this study identifies similarities and discrepancies in how China and Australia have chosen to use the individuals of these endemic species. While China’s use of pandas as soft-power tools is widely documented and seen as a positive strategic tool for the country’s reputation, Australia’s approaches with having koalas as representatives of their country are various, inconsistent and, at times, contradictory, or even accidental. Pandas and koalas are used as gifts in gift diplomacy, considered objects of diplomacy, holders of symbolic power and conveniently for the image of the zoos, seen as refugees of their home countries when in zoos abroad —given their status as threatened species. Even if many of the individual pandas and koalas are named when used for diplomatic purposes, none of them are deemed as moral subjects. Scholars, researchers and journalists promote the ongoing invisibility of the needs andinterests of these nonhuman animals even in animal-based diplomacy contexts.
