Two pandas at a Tokyo zoo will be returned to China in January, the Tokyo government said on Monday, potentially leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.<\/p>\n
Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” programme, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolised friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalisation of diplomatic ties in 1972.<\/p>\n
Japan currently has only two pandas, Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao, at Tokyo’s Zoological Gardens in the Ueno neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
But the twins are now set to be repatriated a month before their loan period expires in February, said Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which operates the Ueno zoo.<\/p>\n
Tokyo’s regional government has been asking for the immensely popular mammals to remain at the zoo — where they attract huge crowds — but China didn’t agree, according to the Nikkei business daily.<\/p>\n
In September last year, animal lovers in Tokyo bid farewell to the parents of Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao who returned home.<\/p>\n
Just before they left, thousands of tearful fans came out to catch a final glimpse and take photographs of the beloved bears.<\/p>\n
The Asahi Shimbun reported that Tokyo is seeking the loan of a new pair, although their arrival before the return of Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao is seen as unlikely.<\/p>\n
Ties between Asia’s two largest economies are fast deteriorating after Japan’s conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted that Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.<\/p>\n
Japan’s top government spokesman Minoru Kihara said pandas have helped ties with China.<\/p>\n
“Exchanges through pandas have contributed to improving the feelings between the people of Japan and China. We hope such exchanges will continue,” Kihara told a regular press briefing.<\/p>\n
He said that “several local governments and zoos have expressed interest in receiving pandas on loan”, but did not state whether the national government was asking China for new animals.<\/p>\n
The Ueno zoo has long been the beneficiary of panda diplomacy, having cooperated with facilities in China and the United States to successfully breed giant pandas.<\/p>\n
Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao were delivered in 2021 by their mother Shin Shin, who arrived in 2011 and was returned to China last year.<\/p>\n
Breeding pandas in a zoo environment is fiendishly tricky due to their difficulties mating, false pregnancies and high mortality rates of newborn cubs.<\/p>\n
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