She was born in 2013 at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.

她於 2013 年在華盛頓國家動物園中出生。

Here she is biting her foot.

看看她咬著自己腳的照片。

Here she is in the snow.

看看這張她在雪中的照片。

And here she is in a jumbo-sized FedEx crate bound for a one-way trip to Chengdu, China.

再看看這張她被裝在一個巨大的 FedEx 木條箱中，準備單程前往中國的成都市的照片。

Bao Bao left because she was never ours to keep.

寶寶離開華盛頓是因為她從來不是我們所擁有的。

Her parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, came from China 17 years ago.

她的父母為梅香和天天，在 17 年前從中國來到此地。

But they weren't a gift – they were a loan.

但是，他們可不是中國給的禮物－他們是租借來的。

And that loan stipulated their offspring will also belong to China, as do almost all of the pandas in zoos worldwide.

這樣的租借方式使的他們的子孫都將屬於中國所有，而全世界動物園中的熊貓都依照著這如此規則。

Pandas' natural habitat exists entirely within the borders of one country.

熊貓的自然棲息地全都為位於單一國家的邊界裡。

And that means these animals are more than just mascots for China: they're also tools in China's global diplomatic strategy.

也就是說這些動物不只是中國的吉祥物，同時他們也成了中國的外交工具。

What China figured out as it kind of became more of an international power in the second half of the 20th century was that this was something it could use to its advantage.

在 20 世紀下半，中國了解到他們可以好好利用這種方式來擴展國際影響力。

Pandas have been part of Chinese foreign policy since at least the 1950s.

至少從 1950 年開始，熊貓就成了中國的外交手段。

Initially, it was just kind of given in the same way that, you know, governments have usually given exotic animals to others. It gave pandas to its allies.

一開始本來與其他國家政府間會互相贈與稀有的動物的習慣相同，中國政府本來也會送自家的同盟國熊貓 。

Then after pandas officially became endangered, and that looked kind of tacky, they started giving pandas as loans.

然而當熊貓們正式瀕臨絕種時，他們的外交手段卻變得有點不高尚，開始視熊貓為租借品。

In return, the receiving zoos pay $1 million, per panda, each year in fees.

而每一年動物園要為一隻熊貓支付一百萬美元的費用來報答中國。

And if a cub is born, zoos paying extra "cub tax" of $400,000.

然後如果有熊貓幼崽出生的話，園方還必須付出額外四十萬美元的「幼崽稅」費用。

The thing is that China doesn't give pandas to any country that can put up the money for a loan; it's much more selective than that.

而問題的癥結點在於，中國並不會租借熊貓給任何有錢負擔租賃費用的國家；他們會精挑細選租借對象。

Researchers at the University of Oxford have noticed a correlation between panda loans and China's international trade deals.

牛津大學的研究員發現，熊貓租借和中國的國際外交關係有所關連。

So, in 2010, China realized that it needed to find more market capacity to buy salmon.

在 2010 年時中國發現他們必須找到能供給更多鮭魚的市場。

Their traditional trade partner, who was Norway, had been kind of... The Nobel Peace Prize had gone to a Chinese dissident. China didn't feel like rewarding that behavior.

他們的前貿易夥伴挪威把當年的諾貝爾和平獎頒給了中國的異議份子，而中國不認同那樣的行為。

So instead, they turned to Scotland, which also produced salmon, also produced Land Rovers, which was something else that the Chinese affluent class were interested in,

於是他們不再向挪威買鮭魚，而是轉向同樣盛產著鮭魚的蘇格蘭買。蘇格蘭還有生產 Land Rover 汽車，而這可是中國富豪們都喜愛的品牌。

and so they inked that trade deal and a panda was sent to the Edinburgh Zoo.

所以他們便簽署了貿易約定，而一隻熊貓則被送到了愛丁堡動物園中。

But what China gives, it can also take away.

但是，中國所給予的，一樣也可以再拿回來。

Consider the case of Tai Shan, Bao Bao's older brother from DC.

比如說泰山的事件。泰山是寶寶的哥哥，出生於華盛頓特區。

China had made it known toward the end of 2009 that it wanted to take back the panda Tai Shan.

中國在 2009 年底時清楚地表明他們會拿回泰山這隻熊貓。

It hadn't really set a date yet.

只是具體日期尚未訂定而已。

Officials at the National zoo asked China to extend his stay, but the answer was no.

國家動物園中的政府官員要求中國延期泰山的回國期限，但是被中國拒絕。

Experts suspect a couple of factors were involved in that choice.

專家們懷疑有幾個因素造成中國做這樣的決定。

One, President Obama met with the Dalai Lama, who is a strong critic of the Chinese government and a fierce advocate for the independence of Tibet, which the Chinese government denies.

第一個可能因素是，總統歐巴馬和達賴喇嘛見面。他同時是對中國政府的極力批判的異議人士，同時也是西藏獨立運動的堅定推動者，而藏獨運動是中國政府無法接受的。

And second, the US announced an arm sale to Taiwan, over Chinese objections.

第二個可能因素是，美國違反中國的意願，宣布銷售軍事武器給台灣。

A week later, Tai Shan and another panda from the Atlanta Zoo were on their way to China.

一週之後，泰山跟亞特蘭大動物園的另一隻熊貓就被送回中國了。

It considers pandas as kind of another arm of diplomacy in the same way that, in the event of a diplomatic spat, one country might recall its ambassador or might impose economic sanctions.

中國將熊貓們視為一種外交武器，就像是在發生外交爭端時，一個國家可能會因而招回自己國家的外交大使，或者實施經濟制裁這些手段一樣。

China sees, or certainly appears to see, from the way that its agreements go, pandas as kind of a way to reinforce international relationships that it's building and that it wants to continue.

從這些合約來看，中國對待這些熊貓的態度很可能就是把它們當作鞏固國際間關係的媒介。

More recently, we saw China delay a panda delivery, following the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 152 Chinese nationals.

最近，因為消失的馬來西亞航班上載有 152 位中國人，中國延後了一筆運送熊貓的交易。

In 2014, Malaysia was all ready to get its first panda. They had the enclosure ready at the zoo and all of that.

在 2014 年，馬來西亞已經準備好迎接他們的第一隻熊貓，連動物園的專屬區域都準備好了。

And the day of the panda's supposed arrival came and went

但熊貓卻沒有如期到來，

because the Chinese government was extremely frustrated with the Malaysian government's investigation of the flight, didn't feel that it was doing enough,

因為中國政府非常不滿馬國政府的航班調查進度，認為他們做得不夠多，

and so kept the pandas for another month or two as a way to demonstrate to the Malaysian government, that yeah, we've signed a regional trade deal with you,

所以他們將熊貓送達的日期一延再延，等於向馬國政府宣示，我們已經和你簽了區域交易協定，

we're interested in pursuing a relationship, but you're not making us super happy right now.

我們很想要建立兩國貿易關係，但現在你讓我們非常不開心。

Currently, the US still has 12 pandas, including Bao Bao's new little brother, Bei Bei.

目前，美國仍有 12 隻熊貓，其中包含寶寶的弟弟，貝貝。

But future relations with China could change that.

但未來美國與中國的關係可能會使這個情況改變。

It's entirely possible that, whether in a military respect in the South China Sea, or in a political respect with regards to Taiwan,

在南海的軍事方面以及台灣的政治因素完全可能使情況改變。

that China will find good reason to feel that the US is no longer interested in pursuing the kind of warm partnership that they've had.

只要中國找到理由，認為美國不再想要維持兩國間溫暖的合作關係的話。

So what that means for panda diplomacy is really anyone's guess.

所以貓熊外交的結果沒有人能保證。