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Panda pair off to Taiwan 'soon'

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-11 07:41

The mainland is preparing to send two pandas to Taiwan "soon", following a three-year delay.

The State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Li Weiyi told a press conference Wednesday panda experts were finalizing preparations for sending the animals to a Taiwan zoo.

However, he declined to give a date for their departure.

Li said mainland authorities were discussing with Taiwan authorities exit and entry procedures, quarantine measures, conditions at the zoo and the training of zoo staff.

"With the joint efforts of the mainland and Taiwan, we hope the pandas, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, will be able to leave for Taiwan soon," Li said.

The 4-year-old pandas, are currently at a breeding center in Ya'an, western Sichuan province.

They were transferred to the center on June 18 from the Wolong Nature Reserve, which was damaged in the May 12 earthquake.

The mainland announced in May 2005 it would donate two giant pandas to Taiwan to demonstrate goodwill. The pair chosen were named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan (together meaning "reunion") as a result of a poll held on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.

But their departure, due to various circumstances, has been delayed for more than three years.

Chen Yunlin, chairman of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), on Tuesday also expressed his wish the two pandas could leave for the island soon.

Experts had agreed the pandas should be sent to Taiwan within a year to allow them to adjust to their new environment, he said.

The Taiwan authorities last month approved Mucha Zoo, as the new home for the pandas.

On another topic, Li said as of yesterday 818 Taiwan residents had signed up to take the National Judicial Exam on the mainland on Sept 20 and 21.

It is the first time Taiwan residents will be taking the exam.

"The applicants, having passed qualification procedures, will sit the exam together with others from 14 mainland provinces as well as Hong Kong and Macao," Li said.

The Ministry of Justice has chosen the coastal cities of Xiamen and Shenzhen as the exam sites for the Taiwan residents.

On April 16, the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office permitted Taiwan residents to take the exam following requests from the island.

"It is out of the need for economic and social development across the Taiwan Straits, Taiwan residents have been allowed to take the exam and be qualified for practicing law on the mainland," Ding Lu, director of the National Judicial Examination Center, said.

According to official figures, 294,000 people across China took the exam last year and only 58,000 passed. This year, about 370,000 people are taking it.

The exam, which was first introduced in 2002, is held annually in September. Registration for the exam on the mainland started in June and closed in July.

China Daily-Xinhua