Envoy of friendship

Giant pandas Xing Qiu and Yi Lan departed Sichuan province for South Australia on Dec 14, taking the total number of giant pandas sent overseas last year to 10.

The pair replaced Wang Wang and Fu Ni, who were sent home in November after arriving at the Adelaide Zoo in late 2009.

Since 1994, China has engaged in giant panda conservation research cooperation with 26 institutions in 20 countries, with 71 cubs born overseas.

At present, 44 giant pandas are residing abroad, including 15 countries such as the United States, Japan, and Spain. As a symbol of friendship, the national animal receives a lot of love from people all around the world.

"From young to old, everyone who visits our Bamboo Forest falls in love with Wang Wang and Fu Ni," said Zoos SA (South Australia) chief executive Elaine Bensted in 2019, when announcing the pair of pandas were to stay in Australia for another five years.

"They are always a delight to watch, whether they're exploring their habitat, laying in the sun, climbing trees, or eating bamboo."

According to cooperation agreements signed by China and other countries, giant pandas usually stay overseas for 10 years. Cubs born during that period are returned to China before the age of 4.

Wang Wang and Fu Ni were the first giant pandas to reside in the Southern Hemisphere.

"We look forward to continuing to help giant panda conservation and gain a better understanding of pandas living in the Southern Hemisphere," said Phil Ainsley, then director of life sciences at Adelaide Zoo, adding that the agreement offered an opportunity to contribute to global panda research.

Giant pandas, an endemic species in China, are revered as a national treasure. In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature revised the status of giant pandas from "endangered" to "vulnerable", highlighting the achievements of China's conservation efforts.

The wild population of giant pandas in China has significantly increased over the past 40 years, growing from around 1,100 in the 1980s to approximately 1,900 today. The global captive population of giant pandas has now reached 757, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

"We look forward to new rounds of international cooperation between China and other countries for giant panda conservation, which will further expand the scientific research achievements in the protection of giant pandas and other endangered species, and promote people-to-people connectivity and friendly exchanges," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in February.

Since the 1990s, China has engaged in exchanges with 20 countries on giant panda conservation, playing a unique and positive role in promoting friendly interactions among people and spreading China's concept of ecological civilization, said Wang Weisheng, director of the department of wildlife conservation at the administration.

"For over 20 years, we have cooperated with these countries to tackle a series of technical challenges in giant panda conservation, breeding, disease prevention and control, and reintroduction into the wild, providing strong support for the protection of giant pandas and other wildlife in their natural habitats," he said.

"This has become a model for international cooperation in the conservation of endangered wildlife."