China to send more giant pandas to San Diego Zoo

The White House says it’s excited to have more bamboo-chewing bears. (document)

Beijing:

China said Thursday it had signed a deal to send giant pandas to a San Diego zoo after nearly all of the beloved black-and-white animals loaned to the United States were returned amid years of diplomatic tensions.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference that “Chinese institutions have signed an agreement with… the San Diego Zoo in the United States.”

The core of the agreement is “a new round of cooperation on giant panda conservation,” she said.

Beijing has also signed an agreement with a zoo in Madrid and is in talks with zoos in Washington and Vienna, she added.

China has long dispatched furry envoys to various countries as “panda diplomacy,” often to further its foreign policy goals.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing mean there are only a handful of bears left in the United States, three of which left the National Zoo in Washington in November.

The last remaining giant pandas in the United States are currently living in a zoo in the southern city of Atlanta and are expected to return to China at the end of 2024.

But after meeting US President Joe Biden last year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said China could send the new pandas as “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples”.

The White House says it’s excited to have more bamboo-chewing bears.

“The giant panda is China’s national treasure and is loved by people around the world,” Mao Zedong said Thursday.

“We look forward to a new round of international cooperation with relevant countries on giant panda protection,” she said.

An estimated 1,860 giant pandas remain in the wild, with about 600 in captivity at panda centers, zoos and wildlife parks around the world, according to the environmental group WWF.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)