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The two giant pandas, whose names Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan together mean “unification,” flew by chartered plane from their home in Sichuan province to Taipei, where they were to remain in quarantine at the Taipei Zoo for 30 days before going on public display. About 90 percent of Taiwanese polled said they welcomed the arrival of the 4-year-old pandas, who had survived the major earthquake in their home province last May.
About 1,500 people visited the zoo for a simulated tour even before the pandas arrived, as part of an exercise aimed at assessing the flow of visitors through the panda area. Also, 37,000 netizens visited the zoo’s website Wednesday night, causing a system crash, local media reported.
The pandas’ arrival has drawn a positive response in Taiwan, China and the international community – with slightly different tones.
Many international media described the panda gift as a positive sign, indicating lessened tensions and closer relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, which have been separated for nearly 60 years.
In the mainland’s state media the pandas were hot news. They were portrayed as a gift from the homeland to the Taiwanese people, aimed at winning their hearts and lowering their mental defenses against eventual unification.
On the other side of the strait, headlines focused on the elaborate preparations for receiving and accommodating the pandas, and the general air of excitement among the public.
However, not everyone is pleased by the gift. Members of the Democratic Progressive Party opposed receiving the pandas. In fact, in 2006 when the DPP was in power, it refused to take the two pandas as a gift from the mainland, saying it would be detrimental to Taiwan’s national identity.
Others have been upset that the panda transfer was not subject to international rules and restrictions. Even though this made it easier for Taiwan to obtain the animals, it was seen as a denial of sovereignty to the island.
The secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora classified China’s export of the two pandas as “domestic trade,” saying it did not fall under restrictions limiting international trade in such animals. DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang urged President Ma Ying-jeou to lodge a protest against the CITES secretariat.
Lo Chih-cheng, secretary general of the Taiwan Society, a pro-independence group in Taiwan, also claimed that accepting the pandas represented a first step toward “de jure unification” with the mainland. Lo also expressed concern that the direct flights and shipping lines that were opened up recently between Taiwan and the mainland would also be treated as domestic routes by international bodies.
Some DPP lawmakers have proposed renaming the two pandas. Others have suggested offering the mainland a gift of a pair of Formosan rock macaques, and naming the monkeys the equivalent of “Taiwan independence.” Some have called for a boycott of the pandas, asking the public not to visit them in the zoo.
China has long considered its pandas a national treasure, and sending them abroad has been seen as a method of building friendship and goodwill. The first just gift was sent by Tang Dynasty Empress Wu Zetian, who sent a panda to Japan in the 7th century. Since its establishment in 1949, the People’s Republic of China has sent 23 pandas to nine countries, including the former Soviet Union in 1957, the United States in 1972 and the United Kingdom in 1974.
Due to CITES regulations, the pandas sent to those countries were merely on loan for 10 years. But in the case of Taiwan, the two pandas will be allowed to live out their lives on the island, mainland media reported.
While public figures are busy jostling over the political implications of the pandas, most Taiwanese are willing to accept them at face value. When asked by local media to comment on the pandas, one parent replied, “Just let the animals be animals and let the kids enjoy them for what they are.”
