Chinese President Xi Jinping suggests sending more pandas to the U.S.

After meeting with President Biden in California, Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested that China will continue sending pandas to the US. The National Zoo in the US sent three of them back to China last week.

Xi emphasised that pandas have historically served as symbols of friendship between China and the US. He expressed readiness to sustain collaboration on panda conservation with the US and strive to fulfill the preferences of Californians, aiming to strengthen the amicable bonds between the two nations, as reported.

Let's learn more about it.

Revival of “Panda Diplomacy”

During a dinner on sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco on Wednesday night, the leader of the People's Republic of China hinted at a revival of its "panda diplomacy" with the U.S. The potential resurgence came after tensions between the two countries which jeopardized the future of this longstanding practice, where China gifts or loans giant pandas to other nations as a gesture of goodwill.

Three pandas sent back to China

Americans, including children, found it challenging to bid farewell to three pandas namely, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and their cub from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington as they were sent to China earlier this month. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian came to the zoo in 2000 and were meant to just stay 10 years for a research and breeding program, but their stay was extended several times, as per the reports.

In 1972, the National Zoo acquired its initial pandas, Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling, from China as part of a breeding initiative to preserve the species. The zoo maintained pandas continuously until the recent return of the trio.

Pandas in Atlanta Zoo

In the U.S., the Atlanta Zoo has  only four pandas remaining including two giant pandas namely, Lun Lun, Yang Yang, and their cubs, Ya Lun and Xi Lun. According to the current agreement with China, the younger cubs are scheduled to return at the end of 2024, along with their parents. The loan agreement, established in the mid-1990s is set to expire in 2024 and the zoo indicates that there have been no talks to extend it.

Panda watchers encouraged

Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Initiative for US-China Dialogue on Global Issues, deemed it a victory. He expressed that Xi's statement sends a clear signal, indicating that stalled negotiations with various American zoos can now resume, according to reports.