China vice premier visits Indonesia’s giant panda exhibit

APD NEWS

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By APD writer Maverick

JAKARTA, Nov. 26 (APD) — China Vice Prime Minister Liu Yandong visited on Sunday the exhibit of giant panda in Indonesia’s safari park premises, expecting that the presence of giant panda would initiate strategical cooperation on wildlife conservation between China and Indonesia.

Dubbed them as friendship ambassador,

the Chinese senior official also expected that presence of the panda pairing may further bring closer the minds of China and Indonesia people.

“I hope the giant pandas would create beautiful memories for the people in Indonesia, leading to more enhanced friendship with people in China,” Liu said in her remarks during her visit in the panda exhibit.

She added that addressing nature and wildlife conservation is a major task for the two countries which rich of the two natural resources.

“Cooperation in conservancy sector is part of essential ways to expand further relations between the two countries,” she said.

Liu enthusiastically observed one of the two pandas which came out from its neat nest built in the exhibit.

She recorded the panda through her pocket camera while it ate a bunch of bamboo.

“The giant panda seems like loving Indonesian bamboo so much. I can tell that it is now looked fatter,” Liu commented.

Liu’s visit to the panda exhibit was conducted prior to her main task to become the co-chair of 3rd High Level Meeting of China-Indonesia People to People Exchange Mechanism slated for Tuesday in Indonesia’s Central Java city of Surakarta.

Indonesia’s safari park received the giant pandas under the breeding loan scheme with China Wildlife Conservation Association, making the nation the 16th country in the world to receive pandas with breeding loan scheme from China

Two giant pandas, Cai Tao and Hu Chun arrived in the safari park of Taman Safari Indonesia (TSI) after went through 5-hour direct flight from Chinese city of Chengdu in late September.

The two pandas undergone a 30-day quarantine period before made public appearance scheduled later this month.

The two pandas were expected to breed in Indonesia before returning them back to China in the 10-year breeding loan term.

“We are very pleased and honored to welcome the visit of Madam Liu Yandong to see by herself the condition of the panda pairing here before we officially opened the exhibit for public,” TSI Director Jansen Manansang said.

The safari park is located in hilly terrain regency of Bogor, West Java province, some 55 kilometers south of the capital Jakarta.

It has built a particular exhibit for the pandas, called Indonesian Panda Castle, in an area located in the safari park’s integrated conservatory zone near Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park in the province.

The Indonesia’s panda exhibit is situated in higher ground 1,800 meters above sea level, amid thick forest area with daily average temperature between 15 to 24 degree celsius which similar to panda’s original habitat in China.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)