In the latest panda diplomacy, China will send a new pair of giant pandas to Australia as a loan agreement for the current pair ends this year. China will provide two new to Australia's Adelaide Zoo to replace a popular pair that returns to China later this year, visiting Premier Li Qiang said on Sunday. The China-born giant pandas, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, were loaned to Australia in 2009 in a global preservation scheme that also serves as a tool of Beijing's " ".

Since then the Adelaide Zoo has been their home. Adelaide Zoo to receive replacement pandas The two furry creatures are the only pandas in the Southern Hemisphere and have failed to produce cubs in Australia, including through artificial insemination. Breeding is a difficult task for the low-sexed pandas.

"Wang Wang and Fu Ni have been away from home for 15 years — I guess they must have missed their home a lot — so they will return to China before the end of the year," Li said. "But what I can tell you is that we will provide a new pair of equally beautiful, lovely and adorable pandas as soon as possible." The Premier added that the zoo staff would be invited to "pick a pair.

" Berlin-born pandas head for a new life in China To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that Thawing trade ties Li arrived in Adelaide on Saturday as part of after China withdrew a series of trade sanctions on major Australian exports. It is also the first visit to Australia by a Chinese premier i.