Tokyo panda death a chance for China diplomacy?

TOKYO (Reuters) - The last giant panda at Tokyo's main zoo has died, raising the question of whether Chinese President Hu Jintao might engage in some panda diplomacy when he visits next week.

Ling Ling, a 22-year-old male giant panda popular among zoo visitors, died overnight at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, an official at the zoo said on Wednesday.

An official at Japan's foreign ministry said possible panda loans from China had been raised previously through diplomatic channels, as Ling Ling aged.

But she added that the issue had so far not been included in topics for discussion during the visit by Hu, the first visit to Japan by a Chinese president in 10 years.

Beijing was leaning towards loaning a male and a female panda to the Ueno Zoo, Japanese news service Jiji Press reported, citing government sources.

Ling Ling moved to Tokyo from the Beijing Zoo in 1992, when the two zoos exchanged pandas for breeding purposes.

But the Tokyo zoo failed to bring forth any panda cubs between Ling Ling and three other pandas there, and he had been living alone since 2005, after two others died and a visiting panda returned to Mexico.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters he would support more pandas for the zoo.

"I have seen a panda and it was really cute," he said.