'Pandamonium' Breaks Out in Finland Over Cuddly Loan From China

The pair of extremely lovable giant pandas were promised to Finland during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the Nordic country earlier this week. Hardly had the Finnish media and social media users started raving about the huggable newcomers, as the adorable, yet extravagant initiative was disrupted by a pensioner from the Finnish town of Ähtäri, where the pandas were most likely to settle down.

Sixty-eight-year-old Olli Sahimäki single-handedly froze a funding guarantee for the construction of a "panda home," which is a pre-requisite for welcoming the charming Chinese loan-gift, by taking the matter to the Vaasa Administrative Court.

"I've got nothing against pandas, even if Ähtäri was teeming with them. However the project can't run on tax-payers' money and guarantees," Olli Sahimäki told Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat.

​Sahimäki went on to explain that the construction of a panda enclosure will set the city coffers back 8.2 million euros ($8.7mln) with ruinous consequences. Ähtäri zoo was established in 1973 and is currently owned by the city to 99 percent, after having survived several bankruptcies. Last year, the zoo's revenues totaled 2.2 million euros ($2.3mln), which is way below the level of investment necessary to usher in the furry ambassadors of peace, Sahimäki pointed out. Lastly, he also expressed concern about the upkeep costs of the newcomers, venturing that they won't necessarily be able to draw in enough revenue to plug the financial hole they are bound to create.

"Keeping pandas is also expensive. Media reports indicate that the ‘rent' for a single panda exceeds 800,000 euros per animal, and on top of that they need round-the-clock care and guards," Sahimäki explained.

Sahimäki's court action implies that the "panda house" project will be put on hold until the matter is resolved.

Previously, Finnish Agriculture Minister Kimmo Tiilikainen called the panda agreement "the high point" of the international cooperation for the Finnish centenary. Ähtäri Zoo is located in the eponymous town in South Ostrobothnia, which has a population of 6,000. Surprisingly, experts pointed out that the harsh Nordic climate is not dissimilar to that in the pandas' natural habitat in the Chinese mountains, where snow is not unknown.

The so-called "panda diplomacy" is believed to have started in the 7th century, when Chinese Empress Wu Zeitan of the Tang Dynasty allegedly sent a pair of pandas to Japan. In modern times, the Chinese policy of sending cuddly gifts was revived in 1941, when the Bronx Zoo received two pandas as a "thank you gift" from Beijing. In the Communist era, Chairman Mao engaged in panda diplomacy and was known for sending adorable black-and-white gifts to his allies the Soviet Union and North Korea, but also to US President Richard Nixon.

In the 1980s, panda diplomacy saw a significant change, as China decided to send out pandas on loan exclusively, requiring a standard annual fee and decreeing that all cubs birthed from loaned pandas were declared Chinese citizens, regardless of their place of birth. Following the 2008 devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan province, which is one of the world's foremost panda habitats, China made yet another shift in its panda policy, only allowing pandas to be sent for breeding and biological research.

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