After more than a month of farewells, the three giant pandas from the Washington Zoo left the American capital on Wednesday to return to China amid strained Sino-American diplomatic relations.
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When Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived in 2000, they quickly became the stars of the Smithsonian National Zoo in the capital.
AFP
The duo and their offspring, Xiao Qi Ji, or “Little Miracle,” born in 2020, were transported in ventilated crates containing apples and a stack of bamboo, AFP journalists at the scene noted.
AFP
The Ursids then board a cargo plane for a 19-hour journey to the Chinese city of Chengdu.
Her departure follows the long-scheduled expiration of the treaty with China, while relations between Washington and Beijing are increasingly turbulent due to trade tensions and disagreements over Taiwan.
AFP
The first two pandas were gifted to the United States by Beijing in 1972, following a historic visit by President Richard Nixon to Mao Tse-Tung’s communist China.
As part of “panda diplomacy,” Beijing parachuted its Ursids over the planet to seal the improvement in its diplomatic relations.
The Chinese government tends to grant its pandas “to countries with which relations are on an upward trend, which is a form of soft power,” Kurt Tong, a former American diplomat and Cabinet member, told AFP. of Consultants Asia Group.
AFP
“Given the current tone of bilateral relations, it is not surprising that the Chinese authorities are allowing their contracts with American zoos to expire,” he added.
“Panda Palooza”
When Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were loaned to Washington, the first contract called for a payment of ten million dollars to Beijing over ten years.
In a statement, the Smithsonian noted that the current contract requires the zoo to pay $500,000 annually to its Chinese partner, an environmental group.
AFP
The zoo also spent millions of dollars to provide them with appropriate enclosures and study their behavior. He installed a live stream that was very well received by the audience and could be followed at any time.
To celebrate their departure, the zoo also organized a “Panda Palooza,” a “panda party,” beginning in late September that drew thousands of fans.
The action “closes an important chapter in an international success story in animal care and conservation,” the Smithsonian National Zoo said.
In total, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian had four babies who survived during their stay in America.
The Atlanta Zoo in Georgia in the southern United States plans to send two panda twins to China in early 2024 and then their parents at the end of 2024.