Giant panda Shin Shin giving birth to the first of her twin cubs at Tokyo's Ueno zoo

Giant panda Shin Shin giving birth to the first of her twin cubs at Tokyo's Ueno zoo

 BEHROUZ MEHRI

Two pandas at a Tokyo zoo will be returned to China in January, the Tokyo government said on Monday, potentially leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.

Loaned out as part of China's "panda diplomacy" programme, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolised friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalisation of diplomatic ties in 1972.

Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.