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China to continue working with US to protect pandas — Foreign Ministry

Wang Wenbin added that four giant pandas are currently housed at the Atlanta Zoo in the United States

BEIJING, November 9. /TASS/. China is ready to continue working with the United States to protect giant pandas, Chinese Foreign Spokesman Wang Wenbin stated at a press briefing.

"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.

The spokesman said there are still four other giant pandas in the United States, currently housed at the Atlanta Zoo. "It is believed that they will continue to build a bridge of friendship between the Chinese and American people," he said.

Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday that three pandas from a zoo in Washington, D.C. were coming home to China, so there will be no more of the black-and-white bears in the American capital.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the three pandas from the zoo in Washington, D.C. would return to China by the end of December.

The pandas from the zoo in Atlanta will be delivered back to China by the end of next year according to the animal lease agreement. If the parties do not renew the lease or agree to send new pandas to the US zoos, there will be no more pandas left in the United States.

The giant panda is the unofficial symbol of China and is protected by the state. Sending these animals to different countries is now common practice, often referred to as "panda diplomacy." About 1,800 pandas now live in the wild. They mostly live in the mountains of southwestern Sichuan province, where bamboo forests are preserved. About 180 pandas are kept in various nurseries and zoos. The Chinese authorities aim to increase the total population of pandas in the wild to more than 2,000 by 2025.

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