The winner in China's panda diplomacy: the pandas themselves

China’s giant panda loan program has long been a tool of diplomacy, but its significance for species conservation has proved important, too. That could have been an important reason why Beijing is renewing its cooperation with U.S. zoos and sending new pandas while bilateral relations are otherwise low. The number of giant pandas in the wild has risen to 1,900, and the animal is no longer considered at risk of extinction but is given the safer status of vulnerable. Americans can take some credit for this accomplishment, because conserving the bear species has been not purely a Chinese matter but a global effort where U.S. scientists and researchers are indispensable.