MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Michel Martin. Panda diplomacy is back. China started sending pandas to the U.S. as a gesture of friendship and for help with breeding and conservation back in 1972. The black-and-white bears have been a huge draw for the zoos where they've lived, but amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries, those loan agreements have lapsed. But now China has signed a new agreement with the San Diego Zoo to send two pandas to the U.S. They could arrive by the end of the summer in all their adorableness. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.