China's 'Panda Diplomacy' to Send Three Pairs to the US This Year

Panda, a Symbol of Easing Tensions in US-China Relations
Cooperation with San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington Zoos

In February this year, China resumed its 'panda diplomacy' with the United States and has decided to send an additional pair of pandas to the Washington DC Zoo within the year, following San Diego and San Francisco.

According to the official social media account of the China Wildlife Conservation Association on the 29th, "We recently signed a new international panda protection and research cooperation memorandum of understanding with the National Zoo in Washington DC," and "a pair of pandas named 'Baoli' and 'Qingbao' from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda will be sent to the United States by the end of this year."

The association added, "We believe that the new China-US international panda protection cooperation will build on the existing strong foundation to achieve more results in areas such as treatment of serious panda illnesses, epidemic prevention, scientific exchange, wildlife protection, and panda park construction, thereby making new contributions to global biodiversity conservation and enhancing the friendship between the peoples of the two countries."

China began sending pandas to the National Zoo in Washington DC in 1972, before the normalization of US-China relations, and pandas have been regarded as a symbol of easing tensions between the two countries for over half a century.

Recently, as US-China relations deteriorated, China did not renew lease contracts nor engage in additional leases, resulting in the number of pandas in the US, which once reached 15, now being only four at the Atlanta Zoo.

This panda diplomacy was revived after President Xi Jinping mentioned during a dinner with US business executives following his summit with President Biden in November last year that "China is ready to continue cooperating with the United States for panda conservation."

The China Wildlife Conservation Association agreed on new panda protection cooperation with the San Diego Zoo in the United States last February.