Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday confirmed that the country would send two giant pandas to the Atlanta zoo, marking the latest instance of Beijing deploying the iconic Chinese animal in what has become known as "panda diplomacy."

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will arrive "in a few days," Xi told reporters while visiting President Donald Trump at the White House.

China has increasingly embraced the practice of allowing foreign zoos to house giant pandas as a gesture of goodwill, though it maintains authority over them.

The popular animal invariably ranks as one any zoo's largest draws when they are present. The Smithsonian National Zoo, in Washington, D.C., for instance, currently has two, Bao Li and Qing Bow.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.