For more news visit ☛ http://english.ntdtv.com<br />Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision<br />Add us on Facebook ☛ http://me.lt/9P8MUn<br /><br />Everyone loves pandas. And that's why a pair of Chinese pandas being loaned to the UK has raised so much media attention. But for our own NTD reporter--who was blocked from attending a panda press conference in Edinburgh --the pandas seemed to come with political baggage.<br /><br />There was a chill in the air as two giant pandas arrived in the UK from China on Sunday. The giant pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, are being sent as a "gift" from the Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center in Sichuan Province. They're on a 10-year loan at the cost of $9.4 million to the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland.<br /><br />But while other international media joined the press conference—which included Chinese delegates—our own NTD crew was denied access. The PR company responsible for the pandas' arrival, Weber Shandwick, had earlier welcomed NTD. But after showing the press attendance list to the Chinese consulate, they told NTD that our invitation was being revoked—with no further explanation.<br /><br />The Chinese Communist Party dislikes NTD, in part because of our strong stance on human rights and press freedom in China.<br /><br />We discussed the issue with a reporter from ITV News—whose team was allowed into the conference.<br /><br />[Angus Walker, ITV News Reporter]:<br />"There's still meant to be a free press in this country, and if the pandas are going to mean that our politicians can't raise issues of press freedom, freedom of expression and human rights in China, then they will be pandering to the Chinese government."<br /><br />This pandering is part of what some call "Panda Diplomacy." While animal loans are usually an issue of conservation, for decades Chinese authorities have made them a political one.<br /><br />In 2006, they loaned two pandas to Taiwan. Those pandas—whose names, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, when combined, mean "unify"—were a clear signal of Beijing's political intentions.
