Giant pandas eating bamboo at the Bifengxia Panda Base in Sichuan, China.
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For the first time in more than two decades, giant pandas are en route from China to a zoo in San Diego, US – a sign that Beijing is resuming its so-called “panda diplomacy” efforts as ties with the West thaw.
Four-year-old Yun Chuan, a male panda, and Xin Bao, a female panda who turns four in July, left the Bifengxia Giant Panda Base in China's Sichuan province on Wednesday.
The pair will reside at the San Diego Zoo for the next ten years press release from the zoo.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria visited the Chinese facility on Wednesday to celebrate the pandas' departure before welcoming them to his city. Delegates from both countries were also present.
“I am honored to have been invited to participate in the farewell ceremonies in China for Yun Chuan and Xin Bao,” said the mayor on X. “This is a historic conservation partnership that will help protect these beautiful creatures and their habitat.”
Paul Baribault, president and CEO of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, said the farewell ceremony “celebrates their journey and underscores a partnership between the United States and China on vital conservation efforts.”
The pandas were accompanied by keepers and veterinarians from both China and the US, including Americans who previously visited China and “got to know the pandas well,” said Huang Shan, a giant panda keeper at the Ya'an facility. NBC News.
The Chinese team will spend about three months in San Diego to help the pandas get established, media reports said China Daily said.
The bears need time to acclimatize and are not allowed to meet the public immediately, the zoo emphasizes.
The San Diego Zoo was the first in the U.S. to launch a cooperative panda conservation program, which aims to improve the health and resilience of giant pandas – a species that vulnerable to extinction.
Yun Chua, the male panda, is the son of Zhen Zhen, who was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007.
The zoo has been without pandas since 2019, after a 27-year-old female giant panda, Bai Yun, and her 6-year-old son, Xiao Liwu, returned to ChinaThe zoo promised at the time to continue its conservation efforts.
Panda diplomacy
For decades, China has used 'panda diplomacy' to project Chinese soft power and defuse tensions with the US
Last year, China has recalled three giant pandas which were loaned to the US and lived in the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington Tensions with Washington flared.
Four others at Zoo Atlanta are expected to return home this year.
The San Diego Zoo's 7-week-old giant panda cub is examined by veterinarians on September 21, 2005 in San Diego, California.
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But as bilateral ties thawed, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised in January that giant pandas would return to the US. He said the two countries should coexist peacefully and put aside their differences. This is reported by the Associate Press.
“Beijing wants to improve America's perception of China and is leaning toward cultural diplomacy because it does not want to compromise on political issues such as human rights, industrial policy and territorial disputes,” said Neil Thomas, a Chinese Politics fellow at Asia Society Policy. The Institute's Center for China Analysis told CNBC.
However, he emphasized that the arrival of the pandas in San Diego will have little impact on bilateral relations.
“Panda diplomacy will have little impact on the US-China relationship, which has already entered an apparently prolonged period of strategic competition,” Thomas said.
“Zoo visitors can enjoy the cute pandas without having to worry that Washington has become dependent on Beijing.”
– With reporting from NBC News.
