China's cuddly weapon: pandas

BEIJING — As they munch their bamboo meals in western China, two pandas are being force-fed an exotic new appetizer: Taiwanese language lessons.

It is something of a struggle for the cute and cuddly couple, but in China, nothing is considered impossible, and authorities are determined to teach the Taiwanese Chinese dialect to the panda pair. And so, every day, panda keepers are assigned to sing Taiwanese songs to the 1-year-old beasts.

These, after all, are no ordinary mammals. These are political animals — a new weapon in China's latest charm offensive against Taiwan's independence-minded government.

In the past, China was mainly noted for its furious threats of missile attacks on the island, which it regards as a rebellious province. The proposed gift of two pandas has sparked excitement among many people in Taiwan.

At least three zoos are competing for the right to house the pandas. The Taipei zoo has already started building a $6 million four-story Panda Center, which would be ready to receive the pandas in June. In the long history of the cross-strait conflict, it's the first time that Beijing has employed a pair of giant pandas as a strategic weapon.

But the pandas have been extraordinarily successful in advancing Beijing's political agenda. The gift offer has left Taiwan in a bind. It has drawn support from many residents, while dividing the political elite and driving a wedge between the panda-loving masses and the defiant rulers, who are likely to reject the offer.

Beijing is campaigning relentlessly to publicize its "goodwill gift" to its "compatriots." When it unveiled the chosen pair of pandas this month, more than 100 journalists from China and Taiwan were whisked to the province of Sichuan to witness the event. Even the hobbies and zodiac signs of the pandas were analyzed.

For now, the male panda is known as No. 19 and nicknamed Little Darling, while the female is No. 16 and nicknamed Cheeky Girl. But China has launched a high-profile competition to find official names for the pandas. More than 1.3 million people have voted in the contest, with the winning names to be announced this weekend in a television broadcast on the eve of the Lunar New Year.

The most popular names for the pandas, according to organizers, are Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan. Put together, those names mean "reunion" — the political goal of the Chinese government in its relations with Taiwan.

The steamy romance of the pair has become an obsession in China's state media.