Panda Diplomacy!

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A brief history of 'panda diplomacy' - with new additions to global zoos

China is sending pandas to the San Diego zoo.

I think they are cuddly spies sent to destroy ‘Murica!!

Just two months after US President Richard Nixon made his historic journey to China in 1972, ending more than two decades of tension between the two countries, an 18-month-old pair of pandas arrived in the United States as a gift. Sent by Premier Zhou Enlai, the pandas represented China's latest use of "panda diplomacy".

A practice that dates back as far as the Tang Dynasty, which ruled from 618 through 907 CE, panda diplomacy – or sending pandas as diplomatic gifts – appears to be in play once again in 2024. Last week, the China Wildlife Conservation Association announced that it has finalised agreements to loan some of China's beloved giant pandas to zoos in Spain and the United States, according to Xinhua News Agency, China's official news organization.