The fur balls might be coming back to Washington and San Diego.
Xi Jinping, China’s leader, said in a speech on Wednesday night that his nation’s best diplomats, giant pandas, might soon return to zoos in the United States that have recently sent bears back to their homeland.
“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,” he told a gathering of mostly business executives at a dinner in San Francisco.
Mr. Xi pointed out that the pandas are “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”Panda-monium gripped the United States last week when the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington sent its two aging adult pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji, or “Little Miracle,” back to China on a 19-hour FedEx flight, the Panda Express.
Persons:
Xi Jinping, Mr, Xi, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, Xiao Qi Ji
Organizations:
FedEx, Panda Express
Locations:
Washington, San Diego, United States, San Francisco, China