Visitors watching female giant panda Xiang Xiang ahead of her return to China, at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, on Feb 19, 2023. - AFP
TOKYO (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Japan and China are often at loggerheads over ideology and allegiances, with their leaders wont to giving each other the cold shoulder – but the cuddly panda has transcended the animosity.
Japan bade a teary farewell to four pandas flown to China this week upon the end of a loan agreement, just as the two countries held their first security dialogue since February 2019 on Wednesday (Feb 22.
