Giant pandas returned from Japanese zoo to China
Thousands of visitors at a Japanese zoo said goodbye to the last two giant pandas before their return to China. People queued up to see the twin cubs, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, for the last time. 108,000 people tried to book one of 4,400 slots for a last chance to see the animals before their departure, Tokyo’s metropolitan government said.
This comes as relations between the two countries worsen, with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi saying that the military would be involved if China attacks Taiwan. The giant pandas will leave Japan with none of the species for the first time since 1972 when Beijing and Tokyo normalised diplomatic ties.
Beijing has long used giant pandas as a gesture of goodwill to its allies since 1949. It retains ownership of all pandas that it loans out to other nations as well as any cubs born in zoos around the world. Host countries are expected to pay $1m (£790,000) per annum for every pair.
Only Xin Xin, which belongs to the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico is not owned by the People’s Republic of China, as it was given prior to the policy change. The Mexican Zoo has artificially inseminated the animal annually as part of an effort to breed giant pandas, having conceived eight since 1975. This makes it one of the most successful panda-breeding programs outside of China.
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