Giant pandas eat bamboo at the Bifengxia Panda Base in Sichuan Province, China.
Christophe Boisvieux | image bank | getty images
For the first time in more than two decades, giant pandas are moving from China to the San Diego Zoo in the United States, a sign that China is renewing efforts at so-called “panda diplomacy” as relations with the West thaw.
Yun Chuan, a 4-year-old male panda, and Xin Bao, a female panda who will turn 4 this July, departed from the Bifengxia Giant Panda Base in Sichuan Province, China, last Wednesday.
The two will reside at the San Diego Zoo for the next 10 years, according to a press release from the zoo.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria visited the Chinese facility Wednesday to celebrate the pandas’ departure and welcome them to the city. Delegations from both countries also attended.
“I am honored to be invited to the farewell ceremony of Yunchuan and Xinbao in China,” the mayor said in X. “This is a historic conservation partnership that will help protect these magnificent creatures and their habitat.”
Paul Baribault, president and CEO of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, said the farewell ceremony “celebrates their journey and highlights cooperation between the United States and China on important conservation efforts.” .
According to NBC News, Ya’an Zoo’s giant panda manager Huang Shan said the pandas were accompanied by Chinese and American managers and veterinarians, including an American who had previously visited China and “got to know the pandas well.”
The Chinese team will spend about three months in San Diego to help the pandas settle in, state-run media outlet China Daily reported.
The bears will take time to adjust and will not be able to meet the public immediately, the zoo emphasized.
The San Diego Zoo launched the first cooperative panda conservation program in the United States, which aims to improve the health and resilience of endangered giant pandas.
The male panda, Yun Chua, is the son of Zhen Zhen, born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007.
The zoo has not had any pandas since 2019, after 27-year-old female giant panda Bai Yun and her 6-year-old son Xiao Liwu returned to China. The zoo pledged at the time to continue conservation efforts.
panda diplomacy
For decades, China has been using ‘panda diplomacy’ to demonstrate its soft power and ease tensions with the United States.
Last year, as tensions with the United States escalated, China recalled three giant pandas that had been loaned to the United States from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington..
Four others from Zoo Atlanta are expected to return home this year.
A 7-week-old giant panda cub from the San Diego Zoo is examined by a veterinarian on September 21, 2005 in San Diego, California.
Handouts | Getty Images News | getty images
But as relations between the two countries thawed, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised in January that the giant pandas would return to the United States and said the two countries should coexist peacefully and put aside their differences.
“Beijing wants to improve U.S. perceptions of China and is unwilling to compromise on political issues such as human rights, industrial policy and territorial disputes,” said Neil Thomas, China politics fellow at Asia Society Policy. “That’s why I’m leaning toward cultural diplomacy,” he said. the institute’s China Analysis Center told CNBC.
But he emphasized that the Panthers’ arrival in San Diego will have little impact on relations between the two countries.
Prime Minister Thomas said panda diplomacy would have little impact on US-China relations, which have already entered a period of long-term strategic competition.
“Zoo visitors should enjoy observing cute pandas without worrying that Washington is indebted to Beijing.”
— With a report from NBC News.
