(Washington) After more than a month of goodbyes, the three giant pandas from the Washington Zoo left the American capital on Wednesday to return to China against a backdrop of tense Sino-American diplomatic relations.
Arriving in 2000, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian quickly became the stars of the Smithsonian National Zoo located in the capital.
The duo and their offspring, Xiao Qi Ji, or “Little Miracle”, born in 2020, were transported in ventilated crates with apples and a pile of bamboo, AFP journalists noted on site.
PHOTO STEFANI REYNOLDS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A crate carrying Panda Mei Xiang is moved out of the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, on November 8, 2023. All three of the zoo’s pandas are leaving for China, bringing at least a temporary end to a decades-old connection between the cuddly animal and the US capital. And while the pandas’ departure had been expected due to contractual obligations, many can’t help but see the shift as reflective of the growing strains between Beijing and Washington. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP)
The ursids will then board a cargo plane for a 19-hour journey to the Chinese city of Chengdu.
Their departure is due to the long-planned expiration of the contract with China while relations between Washington and Beijing are increasingly tumultuous, between trade tensions and disagreements over Taiwan.
The first two pandas were gifted by Beijing to the United States in 1972, following a historic visit by President Richard Nixon to Mao Tse-Tung’s communist China.
“Panda diplomacy” saw Beijing parachute its ursids across the planet to seal the improvement in its diplomatic relations.
The Chinese government tends to “grant” its pandas “to nations with which relations are on an upward slope, it is a form of soft power “, explained Kurt Tong, a former American diplomat and member of the consulting firm Asia Group.
“Given the current tone of bilateral relations, it is not surprising that 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 provided for the payment to Beijing of ten million dollars over ten years.
In a statement, the Smithsonian noted that the current contract calls for the zoo to pay $500,000 a year to its Chinese partner, an environmental protection group.
The zoo also spent millions of dollars to provide them with adequate enclosures and study their behavior. He installed a live broadcast which is very popular with the public, who can watch them at any time.
PHOTO JIM WATSON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Xiao Qi Ji, or “Little Miracle”, born in 2020 to Mei Xiang and Tian Tian.
To celebrate their departure, the zoo also organized a “panda palooza” from the end of September, a “panda party” which attracted thousands of admirers.
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, located in Georgia, in the south of the United States, plans to send two twin pandas to China, probably in early 2024, then their parents at the end of 2024.