Give us your island

摘要

The arrival in Washington in 1972 of two giant pandas from China symbolised a turning-point in the cold war. China and America, once bitter rivals, were cosy-ing up in a common struggle against the Soviet Union. This week China has been playing the panda card again in an attempt to resolve another problem left over from the cold-war era: its stand-off with Taiwan. But traversing the Taiwan strait is proving a more difficultjourney forme animals than crossing the Pacific.