Beijing Hints That Pandas May Return to US

Just days after saying farewell, a pair of iconic, black and white bears may soon be returning to the U.S. During a dinner speech with business leaders in San Francisco Wednesday, the Chinese communist regime leader Xi Jinping said China is "ready to continue cooperation with the U.S. on panda conservation." calling the bears “envoys of friendship." He went on to say he was told that Californians were looking forward to "welcoming pandas back.” Hinting that the next couple of bears might end up in the state's San Diego Zoo. Beijing's panda lending program has long been seen as a form of soft diplomacy. The bears are loaned out to nations friendly to China for certain lengths of time and withheld as punishment for going against Beijing. Three pandas at Washington's National Zoo returned to China last week after Beijing remained silent on renewing its panda contract, which expires in early December. San Diego bid farewell to its pandas back in 2019. While the bear staying at the Memphis, Tennessee zoo returned to China this year. Just four are left in the U.S. But they, too, are expected to leave the Atlanta Zoo when their visiting contract expires late next year.