Panda Diplomacy came into action again, as Indonesia welcomed a pair of giant pandas on loan from the Chinese government on September 28 (Thursday).
Cai Tao and Hu Chun are the two pandas from Sichuan province. They will be spending the next 10 years at the Taman Safari zoo which is on the outskirts of Jakarta.
The practice of China gifting pandas to other countries dates back to the Tang Dynasty when Empress Wu Zetian sent a pair of pandas to the Japanese emperor.
Sun Weide, China's Charge d'Affaires in Indonesia, said at a ceremony, "The giant panda is the national treasure of China. They are the messengers of friendship, symbols of peace."
The name Cai Tao means "colorful porcelain" in English while Hu Chun means "lake in Springtime".
"We hope we can breed them, that Hu Chun and Cai Tao will mate so they'll have offspring while they're here," said Yulius Suprihardo, a spokesman for Taman Safari Indonesia.
Jakarta and Beijing have a good relationship now, although they have had a rocky past because of the clashes between Chinese and Indonesian vessels in the South China Sea.
"Indonesia is the 16th nation to be a part of the "Panda Diplomacy", said the Chinese ambassador.
The panda loan is an exchange offer where Indonesia offered to share with China its knowledge of breeding Sumatran Tigers.
Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said joining China's giant panda breeding loan programme "shows that the international community, in this case, China, is confident with the conservation management efforts of Indonesia."
The pair of seven-year-old pandas is expected to go on public display in late October or early November.
