CHENGDU, China (AP) — French first lady Brigitte Macron met an old friend — a giant panda born in France — at the end of her visit to China with President Emmanuel Macron on Friday.
At a giant panda reserve in southwest China, where Yuan Meng now lives, the first lady was surprised at how big the panda had grown. When he was born in a French zoo in 2017, she helped name him – meaning “the fulfillment of a dream.”
“That’s what they look like when they’re born,” she said, holding up two fingers not far apart. Meanwhile, the stocky male wanders around his enclosure, eating bamboo and ignoring onlookers calling his name in hopes of eliciting a reaction.
“They have very independent personalities,” she said. “They just do what they want to do.”
For decades, China has used so-called “panda diplomacy” to smooth and promote relations with other countries, sending giant pandas as gifts to friendly countries and loaning giant pandas to overseas zoos on commercial terms.
Emmanuel Macron made a state visit to China this week, his fourth as president, that included meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade relations and other issues.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association stated during the visit that the China Wildlife Conservation Association signed a letter of intent with France to send two of the giant pandas to the Beauval Zoo in southern Paris in 2027. This will be a new round of ten-year cooperation with French giant pandas.
A French zoo last month sent two 17-year-old giant pandas – female Huanhuan and her partner Yuanzi – back to China after being loaned to France for 13 years.
Yuan Meng is their cub, conceived through artificial insemination.
Although made in France, it officially belongs to the Chinese government. In 2023, Yuan Meng said “farewell” to France and was sent to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China to start a new life. Brigitte Macron, considered his “godmother”, stopped by to visit him.
In 2021, Huanhuan and Yuanzi also gave birth to twin baby girls in France.
Huanlili and Yuandudu are also expected to leave Beauval Zoo and go to China in the future. The China Wildlife Conservation Association has previously said it expects them to remain at the French zoo until January 2027.
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Ken Moritsugu in Beijing and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.
