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ATLANTA — <\/span>ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/a> said Thursday that two giant pandas<\/a> from China will arrive at Zoo Atlanta in the coming days, bolstering a loan program that at one time had lapsed as part of tensions between Beijing and Washington. <\/p>\n China and the zoo had said in April that Ping Ping, a male, and Fu Shuang, a female, would go to the United States. But Xi\u2019s announcement at the White House, in opening remarks before talks with President Donald Trump, marked the first public confirmation of the timing. Beijing had reclaimed four pandas from Atlanta in 2024, the last of the animals on loan from China to the U.S. at the time. <\/p>\n Xi said Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, \u201cwill come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people\u201d in \u201ca few days.\u201d He called it \u201ca piece of good news\u201d and hailed the panda loan program as an example of \u201cfriendship between the Chinese and Americans.\u201d <\/p>\n The pandas are part of a conservation agreement between the zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Both pandas were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.<\/p>\n In 2024, Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun, and Xi Lun returned from Zoo Atlanta to China<\/a>, ending a 25-year partnership and leaving the U.S. without any of the animals for several months. The National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China in 2023 before accepting new arrivals Bao Li and Qing Bao,<\/a> in October 2024 after Atlanta lost its pandas. Other American zoos sent pandas back to China before that as loan agreements lapsed.<\/p>\n When the pandas’ Atlanta return was officially promised in the spring, Zoo Atlanta CEO Raymond B. King celebrated \u201cthe wonder and joy of giant pandas” and said his facility was \u201cdelighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n