Mainland to send Pandas to Taiwan in December

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-12 15:30

BEIJING - Taiwan is preparing to receive a pair of pandas donated by the Chinese mainland.

State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Fan Liqing said on Wednesday, the pandas would arrive on the island next month.

The 4-year-old panda couple - Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, with their combined names meaning "reunion" in Chinese -plays at a panda breeding base in Ya'an, Sichuan province. They will be housed at the Taipei Zoo. [Asianewsphoto]

Relevant departments on both sides were busy working on issues including transportation, equipment and personnel training.

The zoo said it was ready to receive the pandas, which were likely to meet the public sometime around the Spring Festival.

First though, they have a one-month quarantine. The Spring Festival falls on January 26, 2009.

The mainland announced it would donate pandas to Taiwan to demonstrate its goodwill in May 2005, but the animal's departure has been delayed for more than three years because of political reasons.

Earlier this month, Chen Yunlin, president of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) announced, during a Taiwan visit, that the panda pair, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan would soon arrive on the island and be housed at the Taipei Mucha Zoo. Their names, meaning "reunion," were chosen by the mainland public through mobile phone text messages.