Tearful farewell as Japan sends its last 2 pandas back to China

Thousands of people flocked to a zoo in Japan on Sunday to say farewell to the country’s last two giant pandas, who are set to return to China on Tuesday, the BBC writes.

Emotions ran high at the Ueno zoo in Tokyo as people stood in line – some for as long as three-and-a-half hours – to see twin cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei one last time.

This comes at a very tense moment in relations between Tokyo and Beijing. Ties have sharply deteriorated after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Tokyo would get involved militarily if China attacked Taiwan.

The twins’ departure will leave Japan without any pandas for the first time since 1972, the year the two countries normalized diplomatic ties.

The People’s Republic of China has used giant pandas as a gesture of goodwill towards its international allies and competitors since it was founded in 1949.

But China retains ownership of all pandas it loans to foreign countries, including cubs born abroad. In return, host countries pay an annual fee of about $1m per pair of pandas.

Many pandas have been returned to China in recent years – a loan agreement typically lasts 10 years although extensions are common.

However, the prospects of a new panda loan to Japan have remained uncertain amid the escalating row.