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Moving day could come soon for Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan - four-year-old giant pandas currently making a living sleeping and eating bamboo shoots in a reserve in central China.

China in 2005 (a bit of panda diplomacy towards an island that China considers to be an inseparable part of its own country). But the authorities in Taiwan said no. They feared that accepting the pandas would also mean accepting China's position that Taiwan is a part of China. They also didn't like the fact that, when put together, the pandas' names spell the word "reunion" in Chinese. So the pandas stayed in China.

But in May this year, a new government took power in Taiwan - promising to improve relations with China. This promise appears to include accepting Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan.

China's State Council now says that keepers are getting ready to send the pandas to a zoo in Taiwan - and that the pandas will soon be able make their journey (no date has yet been given).

Whenever China wants to make friends, it likes to offer a panda (failing that, it organises a game of ping pong). Between 1958 and 1982, China sent 23 pandas to nine countries. After that, as capitalism took off in China, the country decided to start charging for the privilege. The country offered to rent out pandas to foreign zoos for fees of up to one million dollars a year (excluding upkeep costs.)

The authorities have made sure to consider the small print as well. If a loaned-out panda has a cub, that cub automatically becomes the property of China. So, as far as I can tell, this means that China owns all the pandas in the world (200 or so in captivity, together with around 1500 in the wild in central China).

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