“Bear” is a genus: Ursus.
Panda is a different genus.
If tigers aren’t cats, what are they?
They are in the same family "Ursidae ", which contains only 2 genus' as far as I can determine: Ursus and Ailuropoda. Like much of zoology, the family-genus-species differentiations are far from perfect. A quick search in my encyclopedias, and on-line, and every refrence I see classifies Pandas as bears. The burden of proof is on you to prove otherwise. PS - gainsaying is not proof.