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A pair of giant pandas will make their way to America as <\/span>part of a ten-year agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, according to a statement from China on Friday. <\/span>The male, Ping Ping, and the female, Fu Shuang, will relocate to Zoo Atlanta, becoming the third zoo in the United States to currently house the animals.<\/span><\/p>\n The announcement comes just weeks before President Donald Trump is set to visit Beijing, where he will meet with China\u2019s President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n Specific departure dates have not yet been given, but the zoo is currently working on facility upgrades and preparation work for the pandas\u2019 arrival, per the statement<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Zoo Atlanta <\/span>said<\/a> Thursday that it was delighted and honored to be trusted to take care of the pandas. <\/span>\u201cWe can\u2019t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas,\u201d said the zoo\u2019s president, Raymond B. King. <\/span><\/p>\n The zoo cited a previous panda agreement with the association from 1999 to 2024, which \u201cresulted in a highly productive 25 years of partnership,\u201d where pandas Lun Lun and Yang Yang gave birth to seven cubs. They returned to China once the partnership concluded.<\/p>\n America was briefly \u201cpanda-less\u201d in 2024 when several agreements ended, marking the first time without pandas in fifty years since the first pair arrived in 1972.<\/span><\/p>\n Pandas have long been a broader symbol of China\u2019s ties to foreign nations, where the country loans them to strengthen its relationships; the animals are typically sent back when the agreement ends. \u201cPanda diplomacy,\u201d as it\u2019s commonly called, has been a practice since the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019s founding in 1949 and can conversely be used to show the nation\u2019s negative feelings toward another country.<\/p>\n