Before Xi Jinping arrived with Joe Biden in San Francisco, Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and Xiao Qi Ji had to leave Washington. The parents had spent 23 years in the US capital, their offspring was born here in 2020 – Xiao Qi Ji, “little miracle”, is still playing on the homepage of the Smithonian’s National Zoo. “We invite you to look back and enjoy some of the inspiring, endearing, majestic and charming panda moments,” the video reads. There is also the absolutely sad note that the pandas have left “and are now living in China”.
By early November, people had lined up to watch the giant pandas chew. Then the favorite bears had to climb into special FedEx boxes, were driven to Dulles Airport with a police escort and flew 19 hours on the Panda Express to Chengdu. There were two animal keepers, a veterinarian and 100 kilos of bamboo on board. They now live in the panda resort in the Sichuan region, but fortunately the story of China, the USA and the pandas is not over.
It was the homecoming of expats who had long since gotten used to their host country, since they are half Americans. Your Chinese president knows how America feels. “I was told that many Americans, especially children, were reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas,” Xi said Wednesday evening. “We stand ready to continue our cooperation with the United States to protect pandas and do our best to fulfill the wishes of Californians and deepen friendly relations between our two peoples.”
Perhaps the most tender connection between the two great powers
Breaking news made the rounds. Beijing might send pandas again! But first to California. Xi, the strategist, said he learned that the San Diego Zoo and Californians were looking forward to the return of the pandas. Pandas are “emissaries of friendship between the Chinese and American people.”
The second most powerful man in the world said this after discussing tensions over Taiwan with his colleague Biden and deciding on new military contacts. He made his panda offer not to veterinarians, but to business giants like Tim Cook. Each guest had paid thousands of dollars for the gala.
After all, it’s about panda diplomacy, perhaps the most tender connection between the two great powers. It began in 1972 after Richard Nixon’s visit to China, as a result of ping-pong diplomacy, the exchange of table tennis players. Nixon’s wife Pat had let China’s then-head of state Zhou Enlai know that she liked pandas.
America’s then First Lady Pat Nixon welcomed the panda bears to the Wahington Zoo on April 20, 1972.
(Photo: AP)
Washington paid millions of dollars in rental fees until the very end. The animals were withdrawn from San Diego in 2019, Memphis had to let go in April 2023, and Atlanta is looking forward to saying goodbye in 2024 with a heavy heart. But there is hope for more diplomats with black and white fur, provided that animal lovers Biden and Xi get along well.