Giant Pandas From China Return to National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

A motorcade through the capital revived “panda diplomacy” between Washington and Beijing for the first time in nearly a year.

A pair of pandas from China arrived at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington on Tuesday, in a revival of so-called panda diplomacy after an 11-month pause that had left countless zoogoers disappointed by the absence of the lovable black-and-white bears.

After their long flight from China touched down at Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia on Tuesday morning, the two 3-year-old giant pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao, traveled in a police-escorted motorcade through central Washington. The bears rode in a pair of large FedEx delivery trucks bearing panda images on their sides and passed just blocks from the White House.

“DC’s newest celebearities are HERE!” the National Zoo giddily posted on social media. A message on the zoo’s website said they would be available for public viewing beginning in January, following what zoo officials have said would be a quarantine period.

The transfer was first announced in a statement by the China Wildlife Conservation Association, which said the pandas would visit the National Zoo under a 10-year agreement.

The National Zoo, which announced in May that the pandas would arrive by the end of the year, was closed on Tuesday to allow for a safe and orderly transfer of the bears.

The pandas have long been one of Washington’s top attractions, and excitement was already building outside the zoo on Tuesday morning ahead of their arrival. Several television camera crews along with amateur videographers staked out the zoo’s entrance. Baked by Yael, a bakery across the street from the entrance, was offering panda-themed cake pops and panda black-and-white cookies.

The pandas are part of a program, though, that has often benefited zoos more than the endangered species it was created to help save. A New York Times investigation found that China has removed more pandas from the wild than it has freed under the program, and no cubs born in American or European zoos, or their offspring, have ever been released.

The National Zoo was left without pandas for the first time in more than 50 years when three of the bears, two adults and their cub, left in November for a nature preserve in China’s Sichuan Province. Until then, pandas had been a constant presence in the nation’s capital since 1972, when President Richard M. Nixon visited Beijing to establish diplomatic relations between the United States and China.

During the trip, Patricia Nixon, the first lady, mentioned her love for pandas to China’s premier, Zhou Enlai, who shipped a pair over two months later.

Chinese pandas had remained at the zoo since then under a series of agreements between the two countries, until the last one expired without an immediate renewal last year.

The absence of pandas from the United States prompted speculation that a recent downward slide in U.S.-China relations was to blame. Zoo officials have downplayed the idea, saying that the pandas had reached an age when they should return to China.

But China’s leader, Xi Jinping, suggested in a speech shortly after their departure last November that the pandas were a component of diplomacy between his country and the United States. Beijing was “ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation,” Mr. Xi said during a mid-November visit to San Francisco.

Mr. Xi met with President Biden during that visit, in a summit that analysts say has helped ease tensions between the countries. A pair of pandas from China arrived at San Diego’s zoo in June.

In Washington on Tuesday, traffic halted along Connecticut Avenue as the panda motorcade rolled into the zoo’s entrance.

Kirsten Svane, who wore “panda ears” on her head for the occasion, teared up as she used her phone to record the grand arrival.

“You know, when Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and Xiao Qi Ji left, I felt like I was losing my best friends in a way,” Svane said, referring to the pandas that departed last fall.

“You just really get to know their personality, what they like, what they don’t like, their habits, like everything,” she added. “I’m excited to be able to, you know, form that relationship again.”

As of early Tuesday afternoon, the National Zoo’s famed panda cam page was not active. But a message assured visitors that live footage would be “coming soon.”

Greg Kendall-Ball contributed reporting.