Atlanta is getting pandas: China's Xi revives a longtime diplomatic strategy at summit with U.S.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping promised two giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta, reviving Beijing's decades-old charm offensive on the opening day of his first state visit to the U.S. in more than a decade. Two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, from a research base in Chengdu will arrive at the Georgia zoo "in the coming days," Xi said. They would be Zoo Atlanta's first pandas since its previous four returned to China in November 2024, when it became the last U.S. zoo to lose its bears. The Chinese president made the announcement at the start of his state visit in Washington, where he and President Donald Trump are meeting through Friday on an agenda spanning artificial intelligence, tariffs, critical minerals, Taiwan and the Iran war.