Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that a pair of giant pandas will be sent from China to Zoo Atlanta in the coming days.
The move will revive a loan program that lasted 25 years before being suspended in 2024 amid tensions between Beijing and Washington.
In April, it was reported that the pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang would be sent from China to the United States. Xi’s remarks at the White House, delivered as part of his opening statement before the meeting with Trump, were the first public confirmation of the timing.
The four pandas Beijing took back in 2024 were the last animals in the United States under a loan agreement with China.
“Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will arrive at their new home at Zoo Atlanta and meet the American public in just a few days,” Xi said, calling the move “good news” and praising the panda loan program as an example of “friendship between the Chinese people and the American people.”
Qingbao at the National Zoo in Washington
(Photo: Sheng Jiapeng/China News Service/VCG/Reuters)
Bao-Li at the National Zoo in Washington
(Photo: Sheng Jiapeng/China News Service/VCG/Reuters)
The pair are part of a conservation agreement between the U.S. zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Both were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.
In 2024, Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun and Xi Lun were returned from Zoo Atlanta to China.
Months passed before the black-and-white bears, regarded as a “national symbol” in China, returned to the United States, when the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington received Bao Li and Qing Bao in October 2024.
The National Zoo signed a 10-year cooperation agreement with Chinese authorities under which it pays $500,000 a year for each panda. Each cub born carries an additional fee, and the cubs are sent to China to take part in conservation and breeding programs before they turn 4.
Chinese President Xi Jinping announces return of pandas to Atlanta Zoo
(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Pandas Xiao Xiao (left) and Lei Lei, before their departure from Ueno Zoo in Japan
(Photos: Louise Delmotte/AP, Issei Kato/Reuters)
Giant pandas have symbolized friendship between the United States and China since Beijing gave a pair to the National Zoo in Washington in 1972.
They have also served as a diplomatic tool, for better or worse. In January, the last pandas in Japan were returned to China amid tensions between the neighboring countries.
That left Japan without pandas for the first time since 1972, the year diplomatic relations with China were normalized, prompting tears and sadness among local visitors.
Now, with the official promise that pandas will return to Atlanta, Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King praised the move and expressed his delight and pride.
“We have once again been entrusted with the responsibility of serving as stewards of this treasured species,” King said.