Why Taiwan wont welcome our pandas.

last updated 8 January 2015

China

Editorial

The Taiwanese authorities are depriving their people of a wonderful experience, said Beijing’s official People’s Daily in an editorial. They have once again spurned China’s generous offer of a pair of giant pandas for the Taipei zoo. Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian himself authored the rejection, using the excuse that the pandas “would not be happy” in cages. That is a preposterous argument, considering that many of these “precious animals” no longer live in the wild, even on the mainland. “Artificial propagation” is necessary to maintain the endangered species. The real reason for Taiwan’s refusal, of course, is a fear of inspiring “our Chinese compatriots” there with patriotism and love for China. Pandas “symbolize peace and friendship and arouse the feeling of national identity.” That’s why Chen, who dreams of making Taiwan an independent country, sees them as a threat. He wants to convince the public that pandas Yuanyuan and Tuantuan “are spies, or Trojan horses.” Of course that’s not true. Chinese mainlanders offered the two pandas to their compatriots in Taiwan “with sincerity and affection,” and the Taiwanese have been eagerly awaiting their arrival. Robbing the people of the joy of seeing charming pandas is simply “prejudice and parochialism.”