Some good international news.
China is sending two giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo, possibly as early as the end of the summer.
The adorable black and white big teddy bears have long been a sign of friendship with China, since 1972 when Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., which signalized the normalization of bilateral relations.
Since then, China has ‘loaned’ pandas to zoos to help breed cubs and boost the population of the nearly extinct animals.
“Pandas have long been envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a recent speech.
“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.”
Zoos generally pay a fee of $1 million a year for two pandas, with the money going to China’s conservation efforts.
Panda diplomacy.