China deployed a powerful tool from its diplomatic trove during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) visit on Wednesday, announcing it would let two giant pandas spend five more years in the US.
“Under a new agreement, our National Zoo will continue to dazzle children and visitors with the beloved giant pandas,” US President Barack Obama told guests at a gala state dinner honoring Hu at the White House.
The deal to be signed yesterday at the National Zoo would allow Mei Xiang (美香) and Tian Tian (添添), which were supposed to go back to China at the end of last year, to stay in the US capital until 2015, China Wildlife Conservation Association secretary-general Zhang Chunlin (張春霖) said.
“Taking full consideration of the fondness of the American people towards the giant panda, China reached agreement with the US side on the extension of the agreement on the giant pandas,” Zhang said through an interpreter.
Americans became attached to the panda couple, which arrived in 2000 on a 10-year loan agreement, especially after Mei Xiang gave birth in 2005 at the Washington zoo to a cub, Tai Shan (泰山).
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