Chinese president Xi Jinping has signalled that China can be sending new pandas to the United States.
Mr Xi made the supply on a go to to California the place he was participating within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative (APEC) convention.
Although he didn’t share a lot element concerning the pandas, it was instructed that the following pair would probably be lent to San Diego, California.
It got here after Mr Xi spent 4 hours with US President Joe Biden at a northern California nation property, holding conferences, lunching and strolling collectively via a backyard – one thing that, due to a pressure within the two nations’ relations, was inconceivable not way back.
After the assembly, Mr Biden introduced that direct traces of communication between American and Chinese navy forces can be reopened for the primary time in additional than a yr.
During a dinner speech with enterprise leaders, Mr Xi dubbed pandas “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples”.
He mentioned: “We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples.”
The indication comes after a few of the final big pandas within the US have been despatched again to China.
China has loaned out pandas as gestures of goodwill many occasions previously in what has come to be generally known as “panda diplomacy”.
Modern China gave its first pair of big pandas to Britain in 1974 and pandas have been first provided to the US by Beijing in 1972, to the National Zoo in Washington, forward of the normalisation of bilateral relations.
In October, the National Zoo introduced that its most up-to-date three pandas – Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their male cub, Xiao Qi Ji, aged 3 – would return to China by 15 November.
Pandas have additionally been loaned from Beijing to different US zoos with proceeds going again to panda conservation programmes.
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The UK’s present solely pair of pandas are set to return to China from Edinburgh Zoo by the tip of this yr.
Similarly, Australia and China are negotiating the extension of a mortgage settlement for 2 pandas at Adelaide Zoo that expires subsequent yr.
Source: information.sky.com”