Pandas ‘Suhail’ and ‘Soraya’ will arrive in October forward of the World Cup as a ‘new image of China-Qatar friendship’.
China introduced that it’ll give Qatar two large pandas to mark the FIFA World Cup being held within the state in November and December.
Chinese language ambassador to Qatar, Zhou Jian, mentioned that pandas named “Suhail” and “Soraya” would arrive within the nation subsequent month, forward of the soccer event that may begin on November 20.
“This can be a present introduced by the 1.4 billion Chinese language folks for the Qatar World Cup, and can certainly change into a brand new image of China-Qatar friendship,” the envoy mentioned at a reception.
Whereas China’s group didn’t qualify for the World Cup, Chinese language corporations have been concerned in the development of mega tasks across the occasion.
After Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was one of some world leaders who attended the controversial Winter Olympics in China, President Xi Jinping mentioned he was able to launch panda cooperation with the Center East.
China is more and more remoted from Western powers over points like its assist for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Consequently, “it’s nonetheless making an attempt to capitalise on the World Cup and the way higher to do this than with a little bit of panda diplomacy”, mentioned Al Jazeera’s Patrick Fok, reporting from Beijing.
Suhail is the title of one of many brightest stars seen within the Gulf area, whereas Soraya is the Arabic title for the Pleiades star cluster.