U.S.-China 'Panda Diplomacy' Restarts After a Decade... Pingping and Fushuang Arrive in U.S. Under Tight Security

[Financial News] Two Chinese giant pandas, described as symbols of U.S.-China friendship, have set foot on U.S. soil. With the recent U.S.-China summit in Washington widely viewed as having produced few substantive agreements despite its symbolic importance, the two countries' traditional panda diplomacy appears to have resumed.
According to foreign media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency and CNN, a FedEx charter flight—a Boeing 777 freighter—carrying the male giant panda Pingping and the female Fushuang landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia at around 16 hours after departing, on the morning of the 27th U.S. Eastern Time.
The two pandas departed Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 2:55 a.m. local time in China that day. A send-off ceremony had previously been held at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. During the flight, the pandas were fed steamed corn buns, bamboo shoots and carrots. U.S. keepers and veterinarians assigned to care for them also accompanied them and closely monitored their health. The freighter carrying the pandas became the most tracked flight in the world on Flightradar24 while it was flying over Alaska.
Immediately after arriving at the airport, the pandas were placed in large cages and transported by truck to Zoo Atlanta, about 16 kilometers away, under a police escort. They will stay at Zoo Atlanta for 10 years and serve as subjects of joint research by the two countries. The zoo has completed facility renovations and assembled a dedicated care team. The pandas are expected to go on public display after about a month of quarantine and acclimation.
Pingping and Fushuang were both born in 2020 and are six years old this year. Pingping, whose name means "peace," was also the name of a panda that Mao Zedong gifted to the Soviet Union in 1957.
The pandas' trip to the United States was officially confirmed when Chinese President Xi Jinping personally announced it ahead of his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on the 24th, when Xi visited the White House. In remarks at the welcoming ceremony, Xi highlighted the history of China loaning pandas to the United States for more than 50 years, saying, "Giant pandas are goodwill ambassadors connecting the peoples of China and the United States."
U.S.-China panda diplomacy took full shape in 1972, shortly after then-U.S. President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China, when China gifted the United States a pair of pandas. Zoo Atlanta had housed pandas since 1999, but was left without any after returning four pandas to China in April 2024. With the arrival of Pingping and Fushuang, the zoo is once again welcoming pandas. Over the past 25 years, joint research by the two countries has produced more than 50 papers and led to the breeding of seven cubs. 

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