A ‘panda’ that was a symbol of and once played a role in improving U.S.-China relations is disappearing in the United States.
Three pandas rented by the Chinese government at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., will return to China on the 8th (local time), the Washington Post (WP) and other U.S. media reported.
Female Meixiang, male Tiantian and baby Xiaoqiji are transported by truck to Dulles International Airport on the same day and leave for Qingdao, China on a FedEx freighter.
Meixiang and Tiantian, who grew up in China, came to the National Zoo in Washington in December 2000 and Xiaoqiji was born in August 2020.
They enjoyed great popularity at the National Zoo, but they left the U.S. as the rental contract ended on the 7th of next month.
The panda first came to Washington DC in 1972.
At the time, U.S. President Richard Nixon visited Beijing to start normalizing U.S.-China relations, and Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai promised a panda lease to First lady Pat Nixon, who admired the panda.
When a pair of pandas arrived in Washington, D.C. that year gained great popularity, China sent pandas to zoos in other parts of the United States and once had 15 pandas in the United States.
The panda lease was in the name of preserving the endangered panda, but China has also gained the effect of the American public’s positive perception of China through this ‘panda diplomacy’.
However, that number has decreased in the past few years, with the termination of lease contracts, and as that time overlaps with the deterioration of U.S.-China relations, some have observed that the disappearing panda from the U.S. may reflect the current relationship between China and the U.S.
There are currently four pandas left in the U.S. at the zoo in Atlanta, Georgia, but there will be no one left when the lease ends next year.
“Panda has been a symbol of connecting the United States and China since arriving in Washington, DC,” the New York Times (NYT) said, “the era of Panda diplomacy is over, at least for now.”
However, officials from the National Zoo explained that the panda is supposed to return to China before the age of 4 years or the cub.
Meixiang and Tiantian are 25 and 26 years old respectively, and Xiaoqi will be 4 years old next year.
The National Zoo plans to request a new pair of pandas from the Chinese side.
But a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. did not respond to whether the panda was leased, the NYT said.
The spokesman said Panda was “a friendly envoy for the Chinese people” and that cooperation with the National Zoo “played an important role in improving mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and American people.”
China has until recently been using pandas as a means of diplomacy.
China leased a pair of pandas to Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2019 and was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who are on state visits, at the panda delivery ceremony at the Moscow Zoo.
Qatar also received the first pair of pandas in the Middle East last year.
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