China sends two giant pandas to the United States as a gesture of diplomacy

WASHINGTON, September 28 — Two giant pandas, symbols of China's soft diplomacy, landed in the United States on Thursday, following a summit at which symbolism reigned and major breakthroughs were scarce, according to Beijing and the Atlanta zoo. The bears' arrival was announced during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington.

The black-and-white mammals, named Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, departed from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport on a chartered flight operated by FedEx, dubbed the "FedEx Panda Express," at approximately 3am (1900 GMT Saturday/3pm Malaysian time) on Saturday. The 16-hour journey, which crossed the international date line, brought the pandas to Atlanta, Georgia, shortly before 7am local time.

The duo will be hosted by Zoo Atlanta for the next 10 years. Preparations for their arrival included the renovation of the zoo's panda facilities and the assembly of a team of animal caretakers. The pandas, who are not yet on public display, will spend around a month in quarantine. The new arrivals are the sixth and seventh pandas to join the zoo since its 1999 partnership with China.

Both were born in 2020 and are six years old. Pandas typically live for around 30 years in captivity. China has been sending the bears as soft-power ambassadors since 1972, when the country gifted a pair to Washington following US President Richard Nixon's historic visit to the Communist nation. Recently, China recalled two pandas from Japan due to a diplomatic dispute over potential military intervention in the event of an attack on Taiwan.