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China has agreed to a 10-year lease of the pandas, which will run through April 2034. The zoo will pay the Chinese government $1 million a year to display the pandas. The news was a surprise, given the tense state of affairs between the U.S. and Chinese governments.<\/p>\n
Bao Li and Qing Bao will be the zoo\u2019s newest celebrities\u2014and in an ironic twist, one of those pandas is actually the grandson (grandpanda?) of the pair that departed in 2023. They\u2019re set to arrive by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to announce the next chapter of our breeding and conservation partnership begins by welcoming two new bears, including a descendent of our beloved panda family, to Washington, D.C.,\u201d said Brandie Smith, John and Adrienne Mars director at the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThis historic moment is proof positive our collaboration with Chinese colleagues has made an irrefutable impact. Through this partnership, we have grown the panda population, advanced our shared understanding of how to care for this beloved bear and learned what\u2019s needed to protect wild pandas and preserve native habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n Bao Li, whose name means \u201ctreasure\u201d and \u201cenergetic,\u201d and Qing Bao, whose name means \u201cgreen\u201d and \u201ctreasure,\u201d will be transported to the U.S. via FedEx<\/a> on a dedicated flight and ground transportation. From there, they\u2019ll be quarantined, per standard procedure, for 30 days, then allowed to settle into their new habitat for a few weeks before public viewings begin.<\/p>\n The public debut date will be announced closer to that time. The move follows China lending two panda bears to the San Diego Zoo<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n Pandas were first loaned to the National Zoo by China during the Nixon administration, when formalized national relations between the two countries were formed. For decades, China has loaned pandas to countries it hoped to build ties with, a policy referred to as \u201cpanda diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, though, China rescinded those on loan, not only from the U.S. but also from zoos in Scotland. Tensions between the U.S. and China started to heighten during the Trump administration, when sanctions were added to many Chinese-made products, but have increasingly deteriorated. Washington has attempted to deprive China of cutting-edge computer chips, citing national security concerns.<\/p>\n Pandas are native to China, and zoos that host them are never given full custody. Instead, they \u201crent\u201d them, paying hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to China each year. Long a member of the endangered species list, pandas are no longer considered at severe risk<\/a> and were downgraded to \u201cvulnerable\u201d to the threat of extinction in 2021. The National Zoo<\/a> estimates there are about 1,864 pandas living in the wild in China.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nPanda diplomacy<\/h2>\n
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