Pandas Warm China-Taiwan Diplomatic Relations

The significance of the gift that China made Taiwan is very high, analysts say, as the two giant pandas that are to be taken to the Taiwanese capital of Taipei tomorrow represent just the latest in a string of good-will gestures that the mainland engaged in over the past few months. The animals can only be found in the wild, where they are recovering from the brink of extinction, and, thus far, Chinese authorities only sent pandas to 9 other countries, since 1957.

The transport plane that will carry the bears to the Taipei zoo has already landed in the Chinese city of Chengdu today, where it will pick up its load and head back. It will reach the separatist island on Tuesday, when the pandas will go into quarantine for a period of time, as part of the standard animal transport procedure. After that, they will be visited by an estimated 30,000 curious Taiwanese.

The bears' ride was carefully set up, and their supervisors procured sufficient amounts of bamboo and corn buns, as well as a fairly decent amount of air sickness pills, in case the flight gets a bit bumpy. The animals come from a Chinese natural reserve, where they lived comfortably for the past few months.

This gesture was widely applauded by international observers, who say that the warming in the relations between the two countries comes after the election of the new Taiwanese president, Ma Ying-jeou, who harbors pro-China attitudes. Though the mainland offered the island the pandas in 2006, the then-president declined the gift, out of fear that it would encourage China's claims on the self-proclaimed state.

"I am reluctant to let them leave here. Their departure for Taiwan represents the mainland people's wishes to promote cross-Strait relations. I hope they will bring goodwill to Taiwan," Wang Xiaofang, a shop keeper who runs his business a short distance away from the pandas' former home, told the Chinese Xinhua news agency.