TOKYO — In August 2024, Toshihiro Nikai, the former secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, visited Beijing as the then-chairman of the cross-party Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians’ Union. It was the group’s first visit to China in about five years. During talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the subject of a new loan of giant pandas, a symbol of Japan-China friendship, arose.
Wang responded confidently, “It will be fine. Leave it to me.”
Arrangements were advancing for pandas to be sent to Wakayama Prefecture, Nikai’s political base. According to multiple Japanese government sources, the announcement was expected to be made at a Japan-China-South Korea summit, with Chinese Premier Li Qiang due to visit Japan and announce the loan.
The three countries were initially making arrangements to hold the summit in Japan in 2025, but they were forced to postpone it after the removal of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol over his declaration of martial law in December 2024, followed by then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s announcement in September 2025 that he would step down.
As diplomatic authorities from the three countries continued arrangements for the summit to be staged in January 2026, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made Diet remarks in November 2025 concerning a possible Taiwan contingency. Japan-China relations deteriorated rapidly after this, and China announced that it would not agree to holding the three-way summit. The planned panda loan subsequently fell through. The last two pandas in Japan were returned to China in January 2026.
A Japanese official involved in the issue lamented, “Now, not even the first syllable of ‘panda’ comes up in talks with China.”
(Japanese original by Minami Nomaguchi and Nozomu Takeuchi, Political News Department)
