@cbcnews: Pandas have been a cuddly symbol of global co-operation for decades, but with a chill in U.S.-China relations, the bears at Washington’s Smithsonian National Zoo are headed back to China. Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji were put into crates and loaded on a cargo plane for a 19-hour flight on Wednesday, headed for a reserve in China’s mountainous Sichuan province. The four remaining pandas in the U.S. are due to leave the country next year in a move one expert calls “punitive panda diplomacy.” #Panda #politics #TheNational