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 Tuesday's panda arrival follows by a week the initiation of expanded transportation links across the 100-mile- (160-kilometer-) wide Taiwan Strait and other signs of friendship between Beijing and Taipei.
Since his inauguration seven months ago, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has moved aggressively to link Taiwan closer to the mainland, opening the door to a substantially increased flow of Chinese tourists and sanctioning a more liberalized regime for bilateral investments.
His steps contrast sharply with predecessor Chen Shui-bian's efforts to emphasize Taiwan's political and cultural separateness, which enraged Beijing, and prompted it to reaffirm long-standing threats to use military force against the democratic island it claims as its own.
After their arrival at Taipei airport, the pandas were prepared for the short trip to the city's zoo, where they are expected to remain in quarantine for 30 days.
Assuming they are disease-free, Yuan Yuan and Tuan Tuan -- and their new, two-story zoo habitat
-- will be unveiled to the public during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday in late January.
They are expected to double the zoo's number of annual visitors to 5-6 million.
China expects big benefits from its panda largesse.
For more than five decades, Beijing has used panda diplomacy to make friends and influence people in countries ranging from the United States to the former Soviet Union.
The giant panda is unique to China and serves as an unofficial national mascot. China regularly sends the animals abroad as a sign of warm diplomatic relations or to mark breakthroughs in ties.
The offer to send Yuan Yuan and Tuan Tuan to Taiwan was first made in 2005 when the pro-independence Chen was still in charge. Citing various bureaucratic obstacles, his government rejected it, but after Ma's inauguration in May, the way was cleared to reverse that decision.
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