During his visit to the US, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday announced to gift two pandas to the United States an ‘envoy of friendship’between the Chinese and American people. Jinping said “Two pandas, Ping Ping and Fuchuan, will soon arrive at Zoo Atlanta and meet the American people and the giant panda will be an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and American people.”
These two pandas will be gifted to the Atlanta Zoo
These two pandas will be gifted to the Atlanta Zoo, following a new research agreement between the China Wildlife Conservation Association and the Atlanta Zoo signed in April. Under the agreement, the CWCA will send male panda Ping Ping and female panda Fu Shuang from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. However, when the Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will arrive in Atlanta is not yet known.
These two pandas are intended to carry on US-China friendship
These two pandas are intended to “carry on our friendship, expand cooperation and promote the well-being of both our peoples,” Xi said on Thursday. He said, “We should cooperate with sincerity. The interests of the United States are deeply intertwined, and there is plenty of room for us to work together.”
Giant pandas have been a symbol of friendship between US and China
It should be noted that the giant pandas have been a symbol of friendship between the US and China since 1972, when former president President Nixon visited the country and received pandas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing as a gift from Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.
Last time, Ling-Ling and Hsing- Hsing were delivered to the National Zoo in Washington, DC, and became the zoo’s top attractions until they died in the 1990s. From that gift was born a tradition that has earned the name “panda diplomacy.” Another giant panda agreement came to an end in 2024, when a separate pair of pandas were sent back to China from the Atlanta Zoo.
Here’s what Trump, Jinping said during meeting
During the meeting earlier in the day, President Donald Trump said that the US and China have “never gotten along better” as he reviewed bilateral ties with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. He asserted that the two countries can continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security for future generations.
In his remarks, Xi said that China-US relations have come to another historical juncture. “Today, President Trump and I had sincere and in-depth exchanges, and reached common understanding on many issues. This has added new substance to the constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability and provided new strategic guidance for China-US relations,” he said.
Trump and Xi referred to historic ties between the US and China with Trump recalling the visit of first Chinese diplomats to Boston 158 years ago. Xi reciprocated by recalling George Washington’s vast collection of Chinese porcelain and the cooperation between the two countries in the Second World War.
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