Chinese leader Xi Jinping has promised two giant pandas to the Atlanta Zoo, reviving Beijing’s decades-old charm offensive on the first day of his first official visit to the United States in more than a decade.
Mr. Xi said two giant pandas, Pingping and Fushuang, from the research base in Chengdu would arrive at the Georgia Zoo “within a few days.” These pandas are the first since the previous four were returned to China in November 2024, when Zoo Atlanta became the last U.S. zoo to lose a bear.
The Chinese president made the announcement at the beginning of a state visit to Washington. He and President Donald Trump are scheduled to hold talks through Friday on topics including artificial intelligence, tariffs, critical minerals, Taiwan and the war with Iran.
“The giant panda was a messenger of friendship between China and the United States,” he said at the White House ceremony.
China has used pandas as a diplomatic barometer ever since Mao Zedong gifted them to the Washington National Zoo after President Richard Nixon’s visit in 1972. The gift was highly anticipated, with more than 1 million people coming to see the pandas in its first year.
The Chinese government moved from outright gifting pandas to leasing them in 1984, and since then financing has been tailored to suit the temperature of the relationship. Loans dwindled as trade and Taiwan tensions escalated, but resumed in 2024 when the San Diego and Washington, D.C., National Zoos adopted new pairs.
According to Chinese state media, pandas loaned to the United States have so far raised 17 cubs: six in San Diego, four in Washington, and seven in Atlanta.
“Panda diplomacy conveys a message of friendship and goodwill from China,” said Wu Xinbo, director of Fudan University’s Center for American Studies. “Americans may not like China, but they will love pandas.”
He said the gesture would improve the atmosphere between the world’s two largest economies and create positive momentum in bilateral relations.
Experts have tempered expectations that the summit is likely to yield little major results, even though the first meeting carries real geopolitical risks.
“For the Chinese government, the message is one of friendship that does not require major policy concessions. For the U.S. government, this is a reminder that even in intense competition, there is room for tangible people-to-people engagement,” said Han Sheng Lin, an associate professor at New York University in Shanghai.
President Xi also said that China will invite 100,000 American youth to study locally over the next five years.
President Trump greeted Xi on a plane at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, a rare welcome for a visiting head of state. This is Xi’s first state visit to the United States since President Barack Obama more than a decade ago. He is scheduled to arrive in the United States on Wednesday and depart on Friday.
