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Zhao Ziwen

Two new members of China’s giant panda diplomacy corps will head to the American city of San Diego under a 10-year lease, China’s forestry body announced on Friday soon after President Xi Jinping met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing.
The National Forestry and Grassland Administration said male Yun Chuan and female Xin Bao would make the trip to the US city, accompanied by several Chinese keepers and veterinary surgeons.
Without saying when the giant pandas would leave China, the administration revealed that representatives from the China Wildlife Conservation Association travelled to San Diego Zoo last month to ensure living standards for the animals were met.
It said the zoo was upgrading various venues to “create a larger and more comfortable living environment”.
A similar lease has been signed with a zoo in San Francisco this year while talks are reportedly under way with a centre in Washington in a resurgence in “panda diplomacy” between the two countries.
However Zoo Atlanta is the only US facility still hosting pandas.
Its programme will expire at the end of this year, with all four pandas expected to be returned to China, the zoo said last year.
The return of panda diplomacy: what it suggests about China-US relations
Yun Chuan and Xin Bao were born and raised at the national giant panda research centre in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The announcement of their new assignment comes just days before two other giant pandas, Jin Xi and Zhu Yu, are expected leave for the Spanish capital of Madrid.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that their arrival would “boost people-to-people exchanges in the two countries and strengthen the friendship between Chinese and Spanish peoples”.
He added that Spain had hosted giant pandas from China for 40 years, helping to breed six cubs.


China has used giant pandas as a modern diplomacy tool since the 1950s, to soften its image on the global stage and strengthen ties with other countries.
From 1957 to 1982, China donated a total of 23 giant pandas to nine countries: the then Soviet Union, North Korea, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and Mexico.
But since 1984, Beijing has offered giant pandas on loan.
The loan agreements typically last for 10 years and can be extended. Hosting zoos pay an annual fee – usually US$500,000 to US$1 million each – to keep the pandas for research and exhibition purposes.
Zoos usually receive a healthy reproductive pair and any cubs born during the loan period are the property of China. The zoo must also pay a “baby tax” of at least US$200,000 to China for each cub. The young pandas must be sent home when they are between two and four years old.
Earlier this month, Fu Bao, a panda born and raised in South Korea, returned to Sichuan when an agreement expired.


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US-China relations

China-US relations: giant panda pair to take up residence in San Diego

Giant panda Xin Bao will make the trip across the Pacific to San Diego Zoo. Photo: Weibo/澎湃新闻

Beloved panda Fu Bao starts quarantine in China after arriving from South Korea

Fu Bao will spend a month in quarantine at the Shenshuping giant panda base in Sichuan province. Photo: Xinhua

Fu Bao arrives at the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Sichuan on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

The isolated enclosure has indoor and outdoor areas. Photo: Xinhua

‘A brand-new discovery’: Chinese scientists uncover genetic secret behind brown pandas

Qizai, who was found in the wild as a cub, is the world’s only brown panda living in captivity. Photo: Weibo / CCTV

Brown pandas like Qizai, pictured here, also have smaller skulls than their black-and-white counterparts, according to scientists. Photo: Zhou Wenliang / Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Zoology

China’s ‘envoys of friendship’ to return to US zoo as Beijing restarts panda diplomacy

Gao Gao, a former resident of the San Diego Zoo, returned to China in 2018. Photo: San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong and US president Richard Nixon in China. Photo: Handout

China’s giant pandas at Chengdu base will take Mondays off from tourists starting Christmas Day

Celebrity giant panda Huahua has an emoji to her name and fans follow her every movement on social media. Photo: Weibo/大熊猫和花我的宝

Singaporeans bid ‘bittersweet’ farewell to China-bound panda cub Le Le

Giant Panda Le Le enjoys a snack in front of a mock ‘boarding pass’ in his exhibit at the Mandai Wildlife Reserve in Singapore. Photo: EPA-EFE

Panda cub Le Le plays in his enclosure be is sent to to China where he will join the country’s breeding program. Photo:  Mandai Wildlife Group/AFP

News

China

Diplomacy

The announcement comes close on the heels of US secretary of state’s meeting with Chinese president
San Diego Zoo is upgrading its facilities in preparation for the animals


The announcement comes close on the heels of US secretary of state’s meeting with Chinese president.


Pandas

China-US relations: giant panda pair to take up residence in San Diego

The announcement comes close on the heels of US secretary of state’s meeting with Chinese president San Diego Zoo is upgrading its facilities in preparation for the animals

The announcement comes close on the heels of US secretary of state’s meeting with Chinese president

San Diego Zoo is upgrading its facilities in preparation for the animals