Mayor likens effort to ‘a peace treaty’
Any panda arrangement would come with “strings attached,” according to the AP. The personal sign-off of Chinese President Xi Jinping is required, the annual fee is estimated at at least $1 million, and Honolulu is expected not to cross political red lines with Beijing.
Blangiardi and his wife, who was born in Beijing, spent 10 days in China this past spring at a cost to city taxpayers of roughly $30,000, the AP reported. The itinerary included travel between three cities, a visit to Fuzhou Panda World, an 18-course meal and photo stops at the Great Wall of China.
The trip followed advice the mayor said he received after approaching the Chinese Consulate-General in Los Angeles about his interest in securing pandas for the Honolulu Zoo. The advice, according to the AP: go to China. “You would’ve thought we were doing a peace treaty,” Blangiardi told Honolulu radio host Rick Hamada four days after he returned. That comparison may not be far off from reality — the mayor’s interest has set in motion a process whose outcome depends on approval from the top of the Chinese government.
The story was reported by Ben Angarone of Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed by the Associated Press.