Taipei urged to respond to panda goodwill
By Cao Desheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-09-29 05:58

Taiwan authorities should actively respond to the offer of a pair of giant pandas as a gift by the Chinese mainland, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said yesterday.

Taiwan experts play with a giant panda at the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Centre in Wolong, southwest of China's Sichuan province August 27, 2005. The experts are visiting the centre to discuss details about the selection of two giant pandas that will be sent to Taiwan. [newsphoto]

Spokesman Li Weiyi told a regular press conference that the mainland side has done a great deal in preparation for sending the animals.

"We hope relevant departments in Taiwan will make an active response, so that our Taiwan compatriots can see the lovely pair of pandas as soon as possible," he said.

The mainland decided to send a pair of pandas to Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill when Lien Chan, the former chairman of the Kuomintang, visited the mainland in May.

According to Li, panda selection is underway and relevant departments are soliciting names for the pair.

The State Forestry Administration announced on June 1 that the pandas will be chosen from the Wolong Nature Reserve in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Some leading zoologists from Taiwan were invited on Monday to discuss technical issues of breeding pandas on Taiwan, a tropical island.

But so far Taiwan authorities have been anything but welcoming to the offer. The Democratic Progressive Party administration has described the mainland's offer as "united front tactics," and flatly refused to treat the offer as an internal affair.