Sino Japanese Giant Panda diplomacy

[Guest guest]

*http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/05/stories/2008050557152200.htm*

*China, Japan and the panda diplomacy *

 

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*Japan now has eight giant pandas, all on loan from China *

 

Beijing: China and Japan are considering a joint research on pandas, the

endangered species, which has stood witness to the see-saw relations between

the two Asian neighbours.

 

On Sunday, Chinese President Hu Jintao, ahead of his five-day state visit to

Japan beginning Tuesday, said China was considering a joint research with

Japan on pandas.

 

Japan has requested China to send a pair of pandas for research cooperation,

Mr. Hu said during an interaction with Japanese reporters. " We understand

the Japanese peoples aspiration, " he added, according to the official Xinhua

news agency.

'Panda presents'

 

The two countries have a history of 'panda presents' to mark normalisation

of their relations.

 

Mr. Hu's statement comes after the recent death of Ling Ling, a giant panda

given by China to Japan in 1992, in exchange for a Japanese-born panda cub

to mark the 20th anniversary of the normalisation of Sino-Japanese

relations.

 

With the death of Ling Ling, born in the Beijing Zoo in 1985, Japan now has

eight giant pandas, all on loan from China, which donated Lan Lan and Kang

Kang as the first pair to commemorate the normalisation of bilateral ties in

1972.

 

China has about 1,590 pandas living in wilderness mainly in Sichuan, Gansu

and Shaanxi provinces and another 239 are in captivity. — PTI