Chinese President Xi Jinping said after meeting his counterpart Joe Biden at a summit in California, that China could send new pandas as "envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American people."

The three-year-old male panda, Bao Li, and a female, Qing Bao were flown from Chengdu to Dulles Airport in Virginia. 

They were sent to the US by China in a FedEx Boeing 777F cargo plane dubbed the "Panda Express." They would only be permitted to be displayed in public after being placed in quarantine for 30 days at the Smithsonian's National Zoo.

"We're thrilled to welcome Bao Li and Qing Bao to Washington," said Brandie Smith, director of the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. "Today we joyfully celebrate a new chapter of our 52-year-long giant panda breeding and conservation program."

Only a few pandas are left in the US under pre-arranged contracts including all three of the National Zoo's pandas last November they all went to China. 

The panda diplomacy 

 

After President Nixon's historic visit to the US today, China gifted two pandas to the US, initiating the panda exchange, also known as panda diplomacy, which has a history spanning more than 50 years.

They are strategically important diplomatic instruments that are lent out, acting as hope ambassadors and promoting goodwill among people everywhere. China began sending pandas as a gesture of goodwill to nations like the US, North Korea, and the Soviet Union in 1957.

Following a meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden last November, Xi mentioned sending pandas as "envoys of friendship" between the two nations. The San Diego Zoo welcomed two pandas, the first from China in 21 years.

The National Zoo has upgraded its panda habitat to enhance safety and provide more space, including shallow pools and bamboo stands to encourage natural foraging behaviors. 

A Giant Panda Cam will be relaunched when the Bears debut in January.