Tacoma presents panda lovers' aid to fix damage

As a delegation from the Washington State port city of Tacoma was visiting Zhuhai, typhoon cleanup aid came from an unexpected source. The Washington State Panda Foundation pledged 100,000 yuan ($15,140) on Aug 28 to help with post-typhoon recovery.

Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland and her entourage were in Zhuhai that day to seek to establish a Sister City relationship.

The Tacoma delegation made the contribution to the Zhuhai Red Cross Society on behalf of the nonprofit panda organization. Mayor Strickland, an African-Asian American who was born in Seoul, South Korea while her father was stationed there, wants to help the city to recover from last week's two typhoons.

The delegation discussed cooperation in aviation, science, technology, education, healthcare, and youth exchanges.

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city with a population of more than 198,000. Situated on the Puget Sound south of Seattle, it is nearby several Boeing aircraft manufacture plants. Also in or near Tacoma is JBLM military base, Microsoft, University of Washington campus, and Amazon.

Donation presentation [Photo by Zhang Weining / Zhuhai Daily]

The cities share similarities in the development of aviation, health, and e-commerce, which are expected to open further exchanges and cooperation, Strickland said. She wants Tacoma, which has been a Sister City to Fuzhou since 1994, and Zhuhai to also establish a deep friendship.

Zhu Qingqiao, vice mayor of Zhuhai, thanked delegation members for their concern and support, and then discussed economic development. Zhuhai welcomes more enterprise visits from Tacoma and looks forward to strengthening exchanges in the field of humanities, especially the tourism sector and communication between teenagers, he said.