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Three pandas safely return from U.S. to China — Xinhua

The cargo was met by animal keepers from the China Center for Conservation and Research of Giant Pandas

BEIJING, November 10. /TASS/. Giant pandas Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their male cub Xiao Qi Ji safely retuned from the United States to China, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Late on Thursday, the FedEx Express Boeing 777 cargo aircraft with a huge giant panda picture painted outside the cockpit landed in the international airport of the city of Chengdu in the Sichuan province in the south-west of China.

The cargo was met by animal keepers from the China Center for Conservation and Research of Giant Pandas. The pandas were then sent to a quarantine center in the Wolong National Nature Reserve.

As the animal keepers say, the bamboo bears are in good condition after their long flight. During the flight, the pandas did not experience hunger: 100 kg of bamboo, drinking water and apples were loaded onto the plane.

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived in the United States 23 years ago and had four cubs. Three of them - Tai Shan, Bao Bao and Bei Bei - were delivered to China earlier.

As Chinese Foreign Spokesman Wang Wenbin stated at a press briefing, China is ready to continue working with the United States to protect giant pandas.

"China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the United States, and make positive contributions to the protection of the giant panda and other endangered species," Wang Wenbin said on Thursday commenting on the return of the bamboo-eaters from a zoo in Washington, D.C. to China.

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