(Reuters) – China will send two young giant pandas to Washington, the National Zoo said on Wednesday, after the zoo returned three pandas several months ago amid rising tensions between the two giants.
The announcement comes as exchanges between the two countries have grown and relations have become more stable since they hit an all-time low last year.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo said in a statement that the Washington zoo is set to welcome the pandas, named Bao Li and Qin Bao, by the end of the year.
“We are pleased to announce the beginning of a new chapter in our breeding and conservation collaboration by welcoming two new bears to Washington, D.C., including offspring of our beloved panda family,” said Brandy Smith, director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
“This historic moment is clear evidence that our collaboration with our Chinese colleagues has had an undeniable impact,” Smith added.
The three pandas left the zoo last November when their loan agreement expired, leaving Zoo Atlanta in Georgia as the only zoo in the United States keeping giant pandas, with its loan agreement set to expire later this year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested he was ready to send more “friendly envoys” to the United States after meeting with President Joe Biden in California in November and agreeing to step up communication amid an escalating geopolitical standoff.
Responding to Xi’s comments, the White House said the US “fully welcomes” the bears.
China’s Communist government has long used “panda diplomacy” to boost the country’s soft power, loaning the big, cuddly-looking black-and-white bears to zoos in various countries as goodwill animal ambassadors for decades.
Wednesday’s announcement is a clear signal of Beijing’s endorsement of stable ties with Washington.
In 1972, after President Richard Nixon’s historic Cold War visit to Japan, Beijing presented the United States with two giant pandas.
Other pandas have since been loaned to the United States for research and education purposes, and the pandas have long been the zoo’s top attraction, drawing millions of enthusiastic visitors.
The China Wildlife Conservation Society said in February it was working with the National Zoo on an arrangement to return more pandas to the United States, including to the San Diego Zoo.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
