The Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province says it is pleasantly surprised to learn two of its giant pandas may be given to Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill by Beijing.

Zhang Hemin, head of the reserve's administrative bureau, said: "We didn't know until the State Forestry Bureau announced the news on Wednesday morning in Beijing, although we had speculated that the pair might come from us because our nature reserve has China's largest number of giant pandas bred in captivity."

Early yesterday, Zhang woke to find the reserve crowded with curious visitors and journalists, who wanted more information on the panda issue.

Cao Qingyao, a spokesman for the bureau, said on Wednesday that the government is looking for pandas at the Wolong reserve aged between 18 months and four years old to be goodwill gifts for Taiwan.

Wolong has 63 pandas in captivity, among which 17 are aged between 1.5 and 4 years. The centre is considered to be the best in China at breeding pandas.

"Once the Taiwan side makes a decision, we can either train panda keepers from Taiwan in Wolong or visit Taiwan to train personnel and assist them in building a panda house," Zhang said.

"We will also be happy to have representatives from Taiwan visit Wolong to discuss which pair of pandas to choose," he added.

Covering 2,000 square kilometers, Wolong is China's first and largest nature reserve devoted to panda conservation. In addition to the largest panda population in captivity, it also has the country's largest population of wild pandas -- around 150 of them.

(China Daily June 3, 2005)