Taipei - Two giant pandas offered by China to Taiwan are due to arrive in Taipei on December 23, reported Eva Air, the carrier assigned to transport the two animals.

Eva Air spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei said the pandas (named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan from the Chinese words meaning unification) will be picked up from Chengdu the capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan and brought to Taipei.

A group of officials, veterinarians, animal caretakers and reporters from Taipei will take the jet to Chengdu to escort the pandas, he added.

In addition, EVA Air will reserve 100 seats for Taiwanese tourists to join the welcoming entourage for the four-year-old male and female bears.

To arrive at the Taipei Zoo, the creatures will be in quarantine for a month and make their debut in the zoo's Panda Hall probably before the Chinese New Year holidays to begin January 26.

Giant pandas are among the rarest animals on earth with only about 1,600 giant pandas left in the world. Most of them live in the wild in south-west China.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Beijing has given dozens of pandas - two at a time - to select countries in order to promote ties, giving rise to the term "panda diplomacy."

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou approved the import of the pandas shortly after his election in May this year, choosing to ignore the pandas' highly political names, as Taiwan still rejects unification with China. (dpa)