Xi comes bearing gifts: 2 giant pandas and 100,000 student visas

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the White House on Thursday he was gifting the U.S. with two giant pandas and invitations for 100,000 U.S. students to study in China.

“The giant panda has been an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and the Americans,” Xi said, speaking alongside President Trump and other officials from the U.S. and China.

“Here, I have a piece of good news. In a few days, two pandas — Ping Ping and Fuchuan — will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people,” the Chinese leader added.

The Atlanta venue has not had pandas among its animals since 2024, when a previous deal with Beijing expired. The panda diplomacy program originally began in 1957 and has been extended periodically to allow the bears to remain in the U.S., according to Congress .

A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry shared pictures of Ping Ping and Fuchuan on social media.

Xi also announced Thursday that 100,000 young American students would be invited to study in China over the next five years.

“Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand-in-hand,” he said in a nod to Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”

He added separately, “The hope of China-U.S. relationship lies in our people, and its future lies with the young.”

The gifts come as Xi and Trump undertake the second day of the Chinese leaders’ elaborate state visit to Washington.

In a rare move, the president and first lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and his wife Madame Peng Liyuan on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday evening and hosted him for an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn and a military review in the Rose Garden.

The Trump’s will also host Xi and Peng, along with the Chinese delegation, for a three-course state dinner at the White House on Thursday evening.