Chinese Pandas Causes Controversy in Tokyo

ChannelNewsAsia reports:

Tokyo's zoo has been flooded with calls to refuse a pair of pandas offered by Chinese President Hu Jintao, fearing that the money from the lease would fund Beijing's clampdown in Tibet, officials said.
Hu, paying a rare fence-mending visit to Japan, offered to lease a male and a female panda to replace one of the best-loved animals at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, Ling Ling, who died last week.

Although the fee is undecided, the going rate is one million dollars a year for a Japanese zoo to rent a panda, Tokyo metropolitan official Kazuomi Nishikiori told AFP.

Chinese and Japanese officials will hold talks next week about the proposed deal for Ueno Zoo, which is run by Tokyo's local government, he said.

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