China swaps pandas for uranium in trade deals
Beijing currently has about 50 of the super-cute black and white furballs loaned out to zoos across the world -- and almost all the recent loans have been to countries that have signed major trade and foreign investment deals with China.
It works like this: Agree to export key energy technology to China; get a panda. Supply Beijing with the uranium it needs to power nuclear reactors; get a panda. Sign a free trade agreement with China; get a panda.
The trading partners even pay China a fee for the pandas, which are a hot item that draw customers to zoos.
"Panda loans are associated with nations supplying China with valuable resources and technology and symbolize China's willingness to build guanxi -- namely, deep trade relationships characterized by trust, reciprocity, loyalty and longevity," according to a recent paper by researchers at Oxford University.
Take Scotland. In early 2011, China negotiated multi-billion dollar agreements with Scotland for the supply of salmon and petrochemical and renewable energy technology. And in return? China loaned a pair of its pandas to the Edinburgh Zoo.
What did China get out of the deal? Oil drilling technology, said Oxford University's Kathleen Buckingham. "That's what China is investing in. It's not exactly investing in the U.K. as a whole; it's investing in Scotland for the technology and the resources."
Beijing has also been handing out pandas to countries that supply the uranium needed to reach its ambitious nuclear energy targets.
Canada and France both signed multi-billion dollar uranium export deals that coincided with panda loans to the two countries. Australia -- which holds the world's largest uranium reserves -- received a pair of pandas in 2009 after agreeing to supply uranium to China in 2006.
Other countries with panda loans, such as Singapore and Thailand, have inked free-trade agreements with China. The same goes for Malaysia -- all papers have been signed, and the country will soon receive its first pair of pandas.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/14/news/economy/china-panda-trade/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
Beijing currently has about 50 of the super-cute black and white furballs loaned out to zoos across the world -- and almost all the recent loans have been to countries that have signed major trade and foreign investment deals with China.
It works like this: Agree to export key energy technology to China; get a panda. Supply Beijing with the uranium it needs to power nuclear reactors; get a panda. Sign a free trade agreement with China; get a panda.
The trading partners even pay China a fee for the pandas, which are a hot item that draw customers to zoos.
"Panda loans are associated with nations supplying China with valuable resources and technology and symbolize China's willingness to build guanxi -- namely, deep trade relationships characterized by trust, reciprocity, loyalty and longevity," according to a recent paper by researchers at Oxford University.
Take Scotland. In early 2011, China negotiated multi-billion dollar agreements with Scotland for the supply of salmon and petrochemical and renewable energy technology. And in return? China loaned a pair of its pandas to the Edinburgh Zoo.
What did China get out of the deal? Oil drilling technology, said Oxford University's Kathleen Buckingham. "That's what China is investing in. It's not exactly investing in the U.K. as a whole; it's investing in Scotland for the technology and the resources."
Beijing has also been handing out pandas to countries that supply the uranium needed to reach its ambitious nuclear energy targets.
Canada and France both signed multi-billion dollar uranium export deals that coincided with panda loans to the two countries. Australia -- which holds the world's largest uranium reserves -- received a pair of pandas in 2009 after agreeing to supply uranium to China in 2006.
Other countries with panda loans, such as Singapore and Thailand, have inked free-trade agreements with China. The same goes for Malaysia -- all papers have been signed, and the country will soon receive its first pair of pandas.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/14/news/economy/china-panda-trade/index.html?iid=article_sidebar