China may soon send new pandas to the US, Chinese leader Xi Jinping suggested after meeting President Joe Biden. These animals are a symbol of Beijing’s foreign policy. Three pandas recently left the United States and there are now only four in the country.
A leadership meeting was held in San Francisco on Wednesday China Xi Jinping with the president USA Joe Biden. After the event, Xi suggested that Americans can expect to soon be able to admire new pandas in their country. He hinted that they would probably go to San Diego, California. He called them “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”
“We stand ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation and do our best to respond to the expectations of the people of California to deepen friendly ties between our nations,” Xi said at a dinner with business leaders. However, the Chinese leader did not specify when exactly the pandas will arrive in the United States.
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Pandas are a tool of Chinese diplomacy
Pandas are one of the symbols of Chinese foreign policy. Initially, they were gifts, but in the 1980s, China began to loan them to other countries for a fee for a period specified in the contract. Currently, they rent them to over 20 countries around the world. The first pair of pandas arrived in the United States in 1972, after President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China. Pandas were supposed to be a sign of warming bilateral relations. For years they lived in the Washington Zoo, later they also found their way to other zoos in the country and enjoyed great popularity among Americans.
A few days ago Three giant pandas from Washington have been returned to China. This means that only four pandas remain in the United States, at the Atlanta Zoo, and their stay is scheduled to end next year. “I was told that many Americans, especially children, did not want to say goodbye to the pandas and went to the zoo to see them for the last time,” Xi said in a speech. He added that California residents and the San Diego Zoo “can’t wait to welcome pandas back.” The first pandas arrived in San Diego in 1987. The last two left them in 2019, after their contract expired.