Taipei  - Taiwan, in a move reflecting improved cross-strait ties, on Thursday allowed the Taipei Zoo to import two giant pandas from China.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) favored the Taipei Zoo over the Leofoo Village Theme Park in Hsinchu, west Taiwan, which has also applied to receive the two pandas China offered Taiwan in 2005.

COA officials said it rejected the application from Leofoo Park because its medical facilities for pandas and tourist education programmes are not as good as those of the Taipei Zoo.

COA could issue import permits to the Taipei Zoo in October at the earlier, but the zoo said the best time to bring the two pandas to Taiwan is between October and March.

The Taipei Zoo, on the outskirt of Taipei, has built a Panda Hall and planted bamboo to feed the pandas. One giant panda easts 40 kilogrammes of bamboo leaves each day.

"When the two pandas arrive, the number of visitors to the Taipei Zoo will double because many people want to see the pandas," Taipei Zoo Spokesman Chao Ming-chieh said.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-pin said Taipei has made many preparations to welcome Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, the names given to the two panda bears by China meaning Reunification (in Chinese, Tuan Yuan means unification). "We will take good care of them, as if they are our children," he said.

However, not every Taiwan citizen welcomes Tuan Tuan and Yuan yuan, While some Taiwanese see the two pandas as China's propaganda tool to speed up Taiwan-China unification, conservation groups demand that the two pandas remain in China.

"We oppose transporting the pandas - which face extinction - to a strange environment for commercial purpose. What Taiwan should do is to contribute to panda-related research and let the pandas live in the wild in their natural habitat," seven civic groups said in a statement. (dpa)