Ailing panda brings Taiwan, China closer

Chinese veterinary experts have been invited to Taiwan, zoo officials said yesterday, for a rare visit between the two sides after a male panda that symbolised an era of warmer ties was moved into end of life care.

Relations between China and Taiwan have been on ice since 2016 with Beijing severing official communications and government visits between the two sides scrapped.

But Taiwan has made an exception after Tuan Tuan, a male panda that was gifted to the island by Beijing in 2008, fell ill in recent weeks and looks to be entering his twilight days. Taipei Zoo said the Chinese vets will stay for seven days and observe, rather than conduct, health checks.

It is not clear when the vets will arrive but Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said Wednesday they were processing their visa applications.

Tuan Tuan and his breeding mate Yuan Yuan were given to Taiwan by Beijing at a time when relations between the two neighbours were more cordial.

The couple became huge stars in Taiwan and Yuan Yuan has since given birth to two female cubs.

China only loans pandas to foreign zoos which must usually return any offspring within a few years of their birth to join the country's breeding programme. But Taiwan was granted an exception as part of a brief charm offensive China launched in the late 2000s and was fully gifted both Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan and any offspring they had.