Due to the deterioration of diplomatic relations. The pandas that lived in the Washington Zoo are returning to China
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China has “recalled” its pandas from the US after more than 50 years of these animals being in the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington. They were provided as part of “panda diplomacy” in 1972.
Three pandas left for their historic homeland on November 8, CNN reports. The reason for the departure of the pandas from the zoo is the deterioration of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and the United States.
The animals came to the United States after the normalization of relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, which happened thanks to the visit of President Richard Nixon to China. China used this tool of diplomacy to establish relations with foreign countries.
Beijing, which has a monopoly on pandas, does not sell these animals, but rents them out for a fee. A mandatory condition is that after reaching the age of four, all pandas born in other countries must return to China to participate in the breeding program.
| Giant pandas Mei Xiang (left) and Tian Tian at the National Zoo in Washington. Photo: Ann Batdorf/Smithsonian’s National Zoo/Getty Images |
Currently, the country has no intention of renewing leases with zoos in the United States. Staff at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington are calling a “break” in their 50-year-old panda breeding program.
In 2020, three giant pandas from the Smithsonian National Zoo (22-year-old female Mei Xiang, 23-year-old male Tian Tian and their several-month-old cub Xiao Qi Ji) still managed to be left in Washington, The Guardian reported.
Then the management of the zoo was able to extend the agreement with the Institute of Conservation Biology and the Chinese Wildlife and Nature Conservation Association, despite the difficult relations between the countries and the trade war between Beijing and the United States.
Iryna Batiuk, “UP. Life”
Read also: In South Korea, a panda gave birth to twin cubs for the first time. VIDEO
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