China renews giant panda offer to receptive Taiwan

BEIJING (Reuters) - China seeks to renegotiate with Taiwan a twice-rejected donation of two giant pandas, a token of Beijing's quest to unify with the self-ruled island that it sees as its own, an official newspaper said on Friday.

A deal looks likely this time, as Taiwan president-elect Ma Ying-jeou indicated shortly after his March 22 election victory that he would accept China's signature animals in a series of measures to normalize ties with China.

Taiwan's current government, led by a president who seeks more independence from China, has rejected the pandas twice since the offer was first made in 2005.

"Mainland (China) has already made full preparations," State Forestry Administration spokesman Cao Qingyao was quoted saying in the People's Daily.

"To let our Taiwan compatriots meet these two pandas at an early date, we hope that organizations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will start communicating and negotiating as soon as possible," Cao was quoted saying.

China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949, and Beijing has threatened to use force if the island formally declares statehood.

Over the past two years, Beijing has taken steps to make a friendlier impression on Taiwan's public.

The animals on offer, a male and a female that live at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre in southwest China's Sichuan province, are named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, words which said together mean "unite."

China first announced it would donate pandas to Taiwan in 2005, during a Taiwan opposition leader's historic visit to Beijing. Pandas are seen internationally as symbolic of China.