Beijing says mainland experts have offered to help treat giant panda at Taipei Zoo

Tuan Tuan – sent from mainland China in 2008 – has been diagnosed with epilepsy, which could be life-threatening

Zoo official says any help is welcome and they have stayed in touch with experts in Sichuan over the years

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Giant panda Tuan Tuan undergoes an MRI scan on September 18. Photo: Taipei Zoo

Published: 6:08pm, 28 Sep 2022Updated: 6:12pm, 28 Sep 2022

Mainland Chinese experts have offered to help treat a giant panda at Taipei Zoo that has developed a potentially life-threatening brain condition, according to Beijing.

Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said the zoo had informed the Bifengxia Giant Panda Base in Sichuan province of the panda’s condition on September 22.

“Experts from the mainland side are greatly concerned and are willing to offer professional and technical assistance as well as other necessary aid to the zoo,” Zhu told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday.

Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan with their 18th birthday cake at Taipei Zoo on August 30. The giant pandas were gifts from mainland China in 2008. Photo: Taipei Zoo via AP

The giant panda – 18-year-old Tuan Tuan – was one of two sent to Taipei as gifts from mainland China in 2008 by then president Hu Jintao, at a time when relations were warming. Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang party had taken office as Taiwan’s president in May that year, pursuing a policy to engage Beijing.

Zhu said the giant pandas had been greatly welcomed and loved by Taiwanese people at the zoo.

Tuan Tuan was diagnosed with epilepsy – a brain disorder that causes seizures – on September 18.

A Taipei Zoo official said any help from mainland experts to treat the giant panda was welcome.