Xi’s "envoys of friendship": Pandas arrive in Atlanta after US-China summit

Two giant pandas arrived in Atlanta in September 27, days after Chinese President Xi Jinping said China would send the animals to the United States as “envoys of friendship.”

A male panda named Ping Ping and a female named Fu Shuang landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport aboard an overnight FedEx cargo flight from a breeding centre in Chengdu, southwestern China, according to Zoo Atlanta, The New York Times writes.

The pandas’ arrival was presented as a goodwill gesture from Beijing following Xi’s visit to the White House last week, where he met US President Donald Trump and announced that China would send the animals to Zoo Atlanta.

Both pandas were born in China in 2020 and will be on loan to the zoo for 10 years, according to Chinese state media. Zoo Atlanta said last month that it had reached a research agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, one of the Chinese organisations involved in panda research and overseas loans.

During his three-day visit to Washington, Xi described the pandas as a symbol of friendship between China and the United States.

The gesture came amid continued tensions between the two countries over trade practices and Chinese military activity around Taiwan and in the Pacific. The summit produced few tangible diplomatic outcomes beyond the panda announcement.

Zoo Atlanta is among a small number of US institutions to have hosted giant pandas, continuing a tradition of Chinese “panda diplomacy” that dates back to former US President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to Beijing.

The arrival of Ping Ping and Fu Shuang brings the number of giant pandas in the United States to six. China sent pairs to the San Diego Zoo and Washington’s National Zoo in 2024, ending a period of several months without pandas in the country.

By Sabina Mammadli