SAN FRANCISCO — The Panda Watch is back.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told US business leaders late Wednesday that he plans to send additional pandas to an American zoo – just a week after reclaiming three beloved bears from the capital by refusing to extend a loan agreement.
“We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of Californians to strengthen friendly relations between our two peoples,” Xi said at a dinner hosted by the National Committee on US-US Relations. China and the US-China Business Council.
“I was told that many Americans, especially children, are really reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas, and go to the zoo to see them,” Xi added.
China’s so-called “president for life,” who began his third five-year term in March, said he heard that the San Diego Zoo and its guests were “very much looking forward to the arrival of the pandas.”
Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and son Xiao Qi Ji returned to China on November 8 after failed negotiations to extend their stay at the Washington National Zoo.
San Diego and Memphis previously surrendered their pandas — leaving only four pandas in Atlanta.
Tian Tian, 26; Mei Xiang, 25; and their son Xiao Qi Ji, 3, had boarded a special FedEx plane – emblazoned with an image of a panda on the nose – to make the trip home Wednesday. AFP via Getty Images The Chinese pandas departed on the “Panda Express” from Washington DC — their home for more than a decade — around 1 p.m. and will make a stop in Anchorage, Alaska, before making the final leg to China.REUTERS They were each given a FedEx truck their own special to transport them to Dulles International Airport. They will be accompanied by two Smithsonian zookeepers and a veterinarian on their nearly 20-hour journey.Xinhua/Shutterstock
The Georgian panda is also scheduled to return to China next year, potentially ending the “panda diplomacy” of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, who in 1972 sent the iconic animal during a thaw in US-China relations under President Richard Nixon.
The $2,000-per-guest dinner on Wednesday coincided with the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
For $40,000, the executives could buy a seat at the Communist leader’s table.
Guests included Apple CEO Tim Cook, Boeing CEO Stanley Deal, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Gilead Sciences CEO Daniel O’Day, according to the dinner program.
The couple gave birth to four children — Tai Shan, Bao Bao, Bei Bei, and Xiao Qi Ji — who are still alive today. They have also suffered several losses, including a cub that died after a week in 2012. AFP via Getty Images Only four other Chinese pandas are in the US in Atlanta and are expected to be returned to China in 2024 after their contracts expire.AP Tian Tian and Mei Xiang arrive at the National Zoo in 2000 and was only supposed to stay at the zoo for 10 years.Getty Images
Xi spoke after about four hours of talks with President Biden at a historic mansion south of San Francisco.
At a subsequent solo news conference, Biden called Xi a “dictator” even as Chinese officials expressed anger after the US president made similar remarks behind closed doors at a June fundraiser.
The Xi-Biden summit ended with an agreement to resume military-to-military communications to avoid untoward incidents following Beijing’s suspension of such ties last year in protest of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
Biden said that Xi also agreed to block exports of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors, which have caused a surge in US drug overdose deaths, with about 200,000 Americans dying from the powerful synthetic opioid since Biden took office.
China’s decision to reclaim the pandas follows tensions with Washington stemming from a trade war fueled by former President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic, which some US agencies say began with leaks from Chinese labs that carried out risky research before killing more than 1.1 million. Americans.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
