China's cute panda pressie to Taiwan
- 00:01:08
- ITN
China's cute panda pressie to Taiwan
A pair of giant pandas from China's Sichuan province have been gifted to Taiwan in a bid to improve ties between the political rivals. Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose names said together mean unite, were carried aboard a jumbo jet in the provincial capital, Chengdu, in two separate crates, with accompanying baggage of steamed corn buns and fresh bamboo shoots. Zheng Lizhong, deputy chief of the Taiwan Affairs Office, said at the farewell ceremony: "The pandas take 1.3 billion of mainland people's blessing to Taiwan and will sow the seeds of peace, unity and fraternal love there." Beijing has given pandas to nine countries, including Japan, North Korea, the United States and the former Soviet Union, since 1957. China has claimed self-ruled Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. It has vowed to bring the island under mainland rule, by force if necessary, but ties have improved vastly since this year's election of China-friendly Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou. China had offered the pandas as a goodwill gift in 2006. Taiwan's then anti-China president declined the gift. Pandas can only be found in the wild in China where they are rebounding from the brink of extinction, but there is still concern - in a large part because of difficulties in producing cubs. The Taiwan zoo which will be their new home will try to mate the pair and may return any cub for tender loving care back in China, a zoo official said last month.
ITN | December 23, 2008
