Pandas have historically been sent back and forth as diplomatic pawns. And returning them can be problematic.
– The panda is a sacred animal in China and it is considered an unfriendly act to return pandas, says Börje Ljunggren, who is a China expert at the Foreign Policy Institute.
But Finland does not believe that it will damage relations, says SVT’s correspondent Liselott Lindström, who is in the capital Helsinki.
– Experts here say that it is not a diplomatic crisis or that it puts Finland in a bad light. This is not a direct political stance.