Chinese president suggests more pandas could come to the US as ‘envoys of friendship’

Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested Wednesday that more giant pandas could come to the United States, calling the animals “envoys of friendship” between the nations’ 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 during a dinner with business executives at a summit of Indo-Pacific leaders in San Francisco, per The Associated Press.

Last week, the National Zoo’s three giant pandas departed Washington to return to China, marking what was believed to be the end, at least for now, to 50 years of so-called “panda diplomacy” with Beijing.

The panda exchange with China began under an agreement brokered by then-President Nixon in 1972, which led to several pandas being loaned to U.S. zoos for research purposes.

“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 during Wednesday speech, per AP.

While Xi reportedly did not go into details on when or where the pandas could be brought to the U.S., the Chinese president did note he was informed the San Diego Zoo and California residents “very much look forward to welcoming the pandas back.”

The San Diego Zoo returned its pandas to China in 2019.

The pandas’ departure from the Washington zoo last week followed a series of other pandas being pulled from Western zoos after their agreements expired. The only remaining giant pandas in the U.S. are at the Atlanta Zoo, with that agreement expiring next year.

While zoo officials have claimed it was simply time for the pandas to return home, some foreign policy experts suggested it could be a message from China amid a series of enflamed tensions with the U.S.

Xi met with President Biden on the sidelines of the APEC business summit earlier Wednesday, marking the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders in nearly a year.

Biden later said he was “blunt” with Xi on areas of tension between the two countries, while also touting agreement on three key areas of cooperation. Biden said the meeting produced “positive steps,” including the reestablishment of direct military-to-military contacts severed last year.

The National Zoo hinted last week at a potential return of the giant pandas without providing further details, while Minister Xu Xueyuan said China plans to continue to work with its “cooperation partners,” including the U.S.