Giant pandas arrive in Atlanta after Trump-Xi meeting

Two giant pandas touched down in Atlanta on Sunday, three days after Chinese President Xi Jinping announced their impending arrival .

The pandas, male Ping Ping and female Fu Shuang, arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to Zoo Atlanta . The bears arrived via a FedEx-donated Boeing 777 aircraft that features a panda eating bamboo painted near the front of the fuselage.

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in 2020. They are not yet visible and will be quarantined for roughly a month, the zoo noted.

Raymond King, the president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta, said the pandas’ arrival marked a “thrilling day” for the zoo and a “historic moment” for the city and Georgia.

“We are elated to welcome Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and could not be more excited about sharing that joy with our Members, guests, city, and community in the coming weeks,” King said in a release.

“Zoo Atlanta is honored to partner with the China Wildlife Conservation Association to see important work continue toward the conservation of giant pandas, which is the most important benefit of guarding this species,” he added.

During a White House meeting with President Trump on Thursday, Xi announced the two pandas would soon arrive in the Peach State.

“The giant panda has been an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and the Americans,” the Chinese leader remarked in the Oval Office.

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

Panda diplomacy between China and the U.S. is not new. After former President Nixon visited the Asian country in 1972, the Chinese government sent giant pandas Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

Through cooperation between the China Wildlife Conservation Association and multiple American zoos, pandas have bred and raised 17 cubs over the past three decades in Atlanta, San Diego and Washington, according to Chinese state media .

The International Union for Conservation of Nature moved giant pandas from “endangered” to “vulnerable” last year. The giant panda population increased by 17 percent over the last decade, per the World Wildlife Fund .