Xing Hui and Hao Hao will be taking on the job of diplomats

Belgium is thrilled and proud to have received two giant pandas from China. In a way, Xing Hui and Hao Hao will be engaged in the kind of duties that I fulfill, those of diplomat. As such, they bear a strong message not only from China to Belgium, but to Europe as well.

That message is one of mutual respect and appreciation. Belgium and China are partners in trade, investment, culture and academic excellence, and over many years our ties have grown ever stronger.

I am very proud that it took Pairi Daiza, one of our best zoos, only one year to persuade China that the quality of the habitat and care developed for the pandas in its animal park was more than adequate. Pairi Daiza had previously built a huge Chinese garden that has helped introduce many Belgians to the beauty of China over the years. The zoo's preparation of the panda unit is a further tribute to China, and I wish Pairi Daiza well in the future management and expansion of the park.

The two pandas also represent a true investment of our two countries in each other. They have already created numerous personal relationships over the past few months and, I am sure, many more will be created and will flourish in the coming years through further collaboration and exchange.

In addition, the pandas embody China's culture, a national symbol, a rare token of appreciation granted to few countries. We appreciate the decision to entrust Hao Hao and Xing Hui into the care of a Belgian zoo, a decision that we are well aware was made at the highest levels of government.

The two pandas present an opportunity to perform joint research and to bring Belgium and China together in the struggle for the protection of endangered species. Nature is our common capital, a shared asset, which we should cherish for the greater good. I am sure that universities and research institutes involved in the project will learn a lot from one another.

Of course, the pandas will bring our people closer together. I was in Chengdu when Hao Hao and Xing Hui left for Brussels, and it was clear how much the people not only of Chengdu, but of Sichuan and China as a whole cherish them. I was also struck by how many attended the farewell ceremony. Their arrival in Belgium has been welcomed enthusiastically, and people lined the streets to greet them.

Xing Hui and Hao Hao are perfect symbols of our diplomacy at all levels; trade, investment, cultural research and people-to-people contacts. As such, I promise that we will protect and cherish Xing Hui and Hao Hao as if they were our own. In seeing them, millions of children will be touched and enlightened, and what better gift can than be than a child's smile?

For all this my warm thanks go to the State Forestry Administration, the China Wildlife Conservation Association, the Forestry Bureau of Sichuan, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, and Dujiangyan municipality, all of whom worked tirelessly with Belgium and Pairi Daiza to make all of this possible.

The author is Belgium's ambassador to China

(China Daily European Weekly 02/28/2014 page9)