Beijing's 'panda diplomacy' moved into high gear yesterday with the announcement that officials have started the search for a pair of the animals who will be clearly aimed at wooing children in Taiwan.
Offered a month ago as a farewell present to Kuomintang chairman Lien Chan at the end of his historic trip to the mainland, the pandas will be entrusted with the diplomatic mission of fostering closer ties across the Taiwan Strait. The response in Taiwan has, however, been mixed.
Cao Qingyao, a spokesman for the China Forestry Administration, yesterday said one male and one female panda aged between 11/2 and four - and at the peak of their fertility - would be selected from the Wolong Giant Panda Research and Conservation Centre in Sichuan province .
'Taiwan has plentiful bamboo to feed the pandas,' Mr Cao noted.
He also offered to send mainland panda experts to Taiwan and said Taiwanese zookeepers would be welcome to visit the mainland.
Mr Cao said sending pandas to Taiwan would not breach the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, as it would be regarded as an internal transfer within China.
The mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office postponed its regular press briefing until yesterday, International Children's Day, to make the announcement, clearly aimed at Taiwan's youngsters.
