Chinese mainland offers pandas, rare plants to Taiwan
6/11/2008 17:58
The Chinese mainland chief negotiator on Taiwan affairs said in Taipei
this morning that the giant panda pair that the mainland promised to donate to
Taiwan three years ago will soon arrive on the island.
After completing
paperwork, the panda pair, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, will arrive in Taiwan and be
housed at the Taipei Mucha Zoo, said Chen Yunlin, president of the mainland's
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
The mainland
announced in May 2005 it would donate two giant pandas to Taiwan to demonstrate
its goodwill. But their departure has been delayed for more than three
years.
The 4-year-old pandas, one of China's most endangered animal species,
are at a panda breeding base in Ya'an, southwestern Sichuan Province.
They
were transferred to the base on June 18 from the Wolong Nature Reserve, also in
Sichuan, which was seriously damaged in the May 12 earthquake.
"The giant
panda is a treasure of the Chinese nation and it is a symbol of peace and
auspiciousness," Chen said. "It is the sincere wish of the mainland compatriots
that the giant panda could live and breed on the island."
According to the
Taipei city zoo, the panda pair are likely to arrive in mid December.
"They
are likely to meet the public at around the Spring Festival after one-month
quarantine," a zoo official said. The Spring Festival falls on Jan. 26,
2009.
The mainland also offered Taiwan 17 Nyssaceae seedlings, a rare
flowering plant that grows on the mainland only.
Chen said the plants were
gifts from the Qiang minority group in Wenchuan, a county in Sichuan Province
devastated by the May 12 earthquake.
"The gifts showed the gratitude of
mainland compatriots, including those in the quake-affected areas, to the Taiwan
compatriots for their generous donations and help (for quake relief)," he
said.
Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman Chiang Pin-kung
accepted the gifts and said Taiwan would take good care of the pandas and plants
to ensure they grow healthily.
On behalf of mainland compatriots, Chen also
accepted two rare animals from Taiwan. One is an indigenous goat with the
scientific name of naemorhedus swinhoei, the other is a spotted
deer.
Xinhua
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