China’s Panda Diplomacy with the U.S. continues. Since returning to the relationship in February this year, China has decided to send an additional pair of pandas to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., following San Diego and San Francisco.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association announced on May 29 via social media, “We recently signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on international panda conservation & research with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C.,” and “A pair of pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao from the China Panda Conservation and Research Center, will be heading to the U.S. by the end of 2024.”
At one point, there were up to 15 pandas in the U.S., but now only four remain in an Atlanta zoo. There were predictions that if China does not extend the lease agreement and does not proceed with additional leases amid worsening U.S.-China relations, there will be no more pandas to see in the U.S. once the remaining lease agreement ends at the end of 2024.
However, after Chinese President Xi Jinping finished his summit meeting with President Joe Biden in San Francisco last November, he mentioned at a dinner with U.S. corporate representatives, “I am ready to continue cooperating with the U.S. for panda conservation,” highlighting “Panda Diplomacy.”
The China Wildlife Conservation Association agreed on new panda conservation cooperation with the San Diego Zoo in February 2024. A pair of pandas are expected to arrive in San Diego early this summer.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association has been cooperating with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C. on giant panda conservation and research since 2000 and has successfully bred four pandas.
They added, “We believe that the new cooperation for international panda conservation & research between China and the U.S. will achieve more results in areas such as treating and preventing panda disease, scientific exchange, wildlife conservation, and panda park construction. This will make a new contribution to protecting world biodiversity and promoting friendship between the people of the two countries.”
China, in anticipation of the normalization of Sino-American relations, started Panda Diplomacy by sending a pair of pandas to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1972. Pandas have been regarded as a symbol of Sino-American détente for over half a century.
