Tensions have spilled into the animal world as Tokyo and Beijing continue a deepening row over Taiwan
Panda fans flocked to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Sunday to bid farewell to its star residents –giant panda twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, who are set to return to China this week. The departure of the four-year-olds will leave Japan without pandas for the first time in over forty years.
China first sent pandas to Japan in 1972 as a goodwill gesture marking the normalization of relations between the two neighbors. Under Beijing’s so-called “panda diplomacy,” China retains ownership of the animals, treating them as national symbols and goodwill…
Read the full article at RT.COM
