China will send two young giant pandas to the United States, the Washington National Zoo said on Wednesday, months after the zoo returned three Chinese bears amid rising tensions between the two global superpowers.
The announcement was made following increased engagement between Washington and Beijing, which has placed ties between the two countries at the most stable level since relations reached historically low levels last year.
China's ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, told Reuters on Wednesday that the new panda cooperation agreement was “a very good sign” for US-China relations.
“To deepen the bonds of friendship between our two peoples, today I am very happy to share with you some good news,” he said during a speech at the zoo, announcing that the two pandas, named Bao Li and Qing Bao, will go to Washington.
Washington's National Zoo said in a statement that it will welcome the pandas by the end of the year.
“We are excited to announce that the next chapter of our breeding and conservation partnership begins with the arrival of two new bears, including a descendant of our beloved panda family, to Washington, D.C.,” said Brandie Smith, director of the National Institute of Zoology. and Smithsonian Conservation.
“This historic moment is proof that our collaboration with Chinese peers has made an irrefutable impact,” he added.
Bao Li is a two-year-old male. Her mother was born at the institute in 2013 and her grandparents, Tian and Mei Xiang, lived there from 2000 to 2023. Qing Bao is a two-year-old female, daughter of Qing Qing and her mother, Jia Mei.
Once they arrive, the pandas will be quarantined for 30 days and then have a few more weeks to adapt to their new habitat, the zoo said. A public premiere date has not yet been set.
The departure of the three pandas from the zoo in November last year due to the expiration of their loan agreements left the Atlanta Zoo in Georgia as the only one in the United States with giant pandas, and the loan agreement is set to expire at the end of this year. year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping hinted that he was open to sending more “friendship envoys” to the US after meeting US President Joe Biden in November in California, where the two leaders agreed to intensify communication despite the intensification of geopolitical rivalry.
Xi's comments prompted the White House to say the US would “welcome” the bears.
China's communist government has long used “panda diplomacy” to increase the country's soft power, lending the big, fluffy black and white bears to zoos in several countries over the decades as ambassadors of animal goodwill.
Wednesday's announcement is a clear sign of Beijing's approval of stabilizing ties with Washington.
Beijing gave two giant pandas as a gift to the US in 1972, following President Richard Nixon's historic visit to the country during the Cold War.
Since then, additional pandas have been loaned to the US for educational and research purposes, and the bears have always been one of the zoos' main attractions, attracting millions of visitors.
Source: CNN Brasil
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