The bears, part of China’s ‘panda diplomacy’, will live at DC’s National Zoo under a 10-year agreement.
China sent two giant panda bears to the United States to be kept at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, in a rare exchange between the two countries.
The three-year-old pandas – a male named Bao Li and a female named Qing Bao – arrived at Virginia’s Dulles International Airport, which serves the US capital, on Tuesday.
They are among the handful of black and white bears still in the US, which has shipped most of the sought-after animals back to its native China in recent years under prearranged contracts. That includes the return last November of the only three pandas living at Washington’s National Zoo.
Many viewed the lack of immediate replacement of the three pandas as a sign of growing US-China tensions, but Chinese President Xi Jinping quickly promised to send the new pandas as “messengers of friendship”.
In August, the San Diego Zoo welcomed two new giant pandas, the first to arrive in the US in 21 years.
‘An Iconic Part of DC’
Anticipation for the arrival of two new pandas in Washington, DC, was high, with the zoo’s website carrying a banner that read: “Pandas are coming”.
“Giant pandas are part of the fabric of Washington, DC’s story, both for locals and visitors alike,” said Elliott L Ferguson, II, president and CEO of Destination DC. “The interest and excitement associated with their return directly benefits the entire city, bringing excitement and visitors to our hotels, restaurants and other attractions.”
The National Zoo has been renovating its panda enclosure ahead of the arrival of the new bears, installing new shallow pools and bamboo stands.
The pandas will not be available to the public for over a month as they live in isolation and adjust to their new habitat.
‘Panda diplomacy’
China has been using so-called “panda diplomacy” since 1972, when the first animals were sent to Washington as a gift, following the historic visit of US President Richard Nixon to China.
Later, a series of 10-year cooperation agreements were reached, which the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy, Liu Pengyu, praised for promoting research in panda conservation.
“The current round of cooperation will focus on the prevention and treatment of major diseases, as well as the protection of habitats and wild pandas,” Liu told The Associated Press by email. “We hope that the arrival of the pandas will add new impetus to exchanges between China and the US, and help to stabilize bilateral relations.”
As of 2014, there were about 1,860 giant pandas in the wild, a 17 percent increase from a decade ago, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). In 2021, Chinese conservationists reclassified this animal from endangered to endangered.
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