Are pandas coming back to California? China’s president suggests they might
Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled late Wednesday that China will send new pandas to the U.S. — possibly to California — calling them “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”
“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,” Xi said at a dinner speech with business leaders in Northern California.
The gesture came at the end of a day in which Xi and President Biden held their first face-to-face meeting in a year and pledged to try to reduce tensions. Xi did not say when or where pandas might be provided, but appeared to suggest that the next pair were most likely to come to California, probably San Diego.
The bears have been a symbol of U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gave two to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington in 1972 ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. Later, Beijing lent the pandas to other U.S. zoos, with proceeds going to panda conservation programs.
The National Zoo’s three giant pandas, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji, began their long trip back to China eight days ago. With their departure, only four pandas are left in the United States, all in the Atlanta Zoo.
“I was told that many American people, especially children, were really reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas, and went to the zoo to see them off,” Xi said in his speech, adding that he’d learned the San Diego Zoo and people in California “very much look forward to welcoming pandas back.”
With no signs the exchange agreement struck by President Nixon 50 years ago will continue, giant pandas at the National Zoo and in Atlanta are set to return to China.
Xi is in California to attend a summit of Indo-Pacific leaders and for his meeting with Biden. He made no mention of the pandas during his public remarks earlier in the day as he met with Biden.
When bilateral relations began to sour in the last few years, members of the Chinese public started to demand the return of giant pandas. Unproven allegations that U.S. zoos mistreated the pandas, known as China’s “national treasure,” flooded China’s social media.
But relations showed signs of stabilization as Xi traveled to San Francisco to meet with Biden. The two men met for about four hours on Wednesday at the picturesque Filoli Historic House & Garden, where they agreed to cooperate on anti-narcotics efforts, resume high-level military communications and expand people-to-people exchanges.
The National Zoo’s exchange agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Assn. was set to expire in early December, and negotiations to renew or extend the deal for the pandas did not produce results.
The San Diego Zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tenn., zoo went home earlier this year.
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