For six decades, China tried in vain to recover Taiwan with military force and political rhetoric. Now it has changed its tactics, by sending Taiwan a pair of giant pandas to win over the hearts of Taiwan people.

The tactic has worked even before the two panda bears arrived in Taipei Tuesday. In the past month, news about the two animals' arrival has dominated the headlines of Taiwan press, and no one is bothered by the pandas' names Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan - which mean "Reunion" in Chinese.

On Tuesday, all major newspapers carried photos of Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan on the front page. The Merry Times printed the pandas' photos on its front page with an article entitled "They Are Finally in Taiwan for Reunion."

Taiwan TV channels gave live coverage of the two pandas' departure from Chengdu, China, in a chartered Boeing 747-400 jet, and invited experts to explain the origin of the word Panda - a Nepalese word meaning bamboo eater - and pandas' eating and mating habits.

The ETTV ran a special panda programme called "100 Reasons You Must Love Panda." Other TV channels said Taiwan gave head of state treatment to China's "guests" because the chartered plane's crew have flown former Taiwan presidents.

"These pandas are too cute to resist. Judging from Taiwan children's reaction, I am afraid that reunification will happen with China with the next generation of Taiwanese," said a newspaper editor who requested anonymity.

Giant Pandas are among the rarest mammals in the world, with only about 1,800 still alive, mostly in China's southwestern mountains.

Their lack of interest in mating puts them on the edge of distinction.

China began to give giant pandas to foreign countries in the year 685, during the Tang Dynasty, when the Empress Dowager Wu Zetian presented two pandas to Japan.

But the term "panda diplomacy" did not come into being until after the founding of the Chinese People's Republic in 1949.

Between 1957-82, China gave 23 giant pandas to other countries to cement ties, but after 2004, it would only loan them to foreign zoos to raise fund for pandas' preservation.

The exceptions are Hong Kong and Taiwan, as Beijing regards them as Chinese territory. China has given four pandas to Hong Kong since the former British colony's return to Chinese rule in 1997, and offered two to Taiwan in 2005.

The government of former president Chen Shui-bian, seeing the pandas as propaganda tools, rejected Beijing's offer under the excuse that export of giant pandas needs permits from CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

Many Taiwanese resented China's naming the pandas as Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan which means Reunion, obviously implying Taiwan and China should be united.

Accepting China's gift would have been unthinkable during the Cold War days under the rule of former president Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang, after losing the Chinese Civil War, fled to Taiwan to set up his government-in-exile, vowing to recover the mainland and to wipe out the Chinese Communist rebels.

Anyone who showed sympathy to China or mentioned "unification" would be put in jail or executed on sedition charges.

But times have changed. Taiwan allowed its people to visit China in 1987 and held its first dialogue with China in 1993.

Despite increased people-to-people contacts, bilateral ties remained strained as Taiwan claimed it is a sovereign nation, currently recognized by 23 nations, while Beijing sees Taiwan as its breakaway province.

China has vowed to recover the island if Taipei declares independence or indefinitely rejects unification talks.

Cross-strait tension eased after Ma Ying-jeou, from the China-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT), won the presidential election on March 22, on the platform of improving ties with the mainland to improve the economy.

Ma has opened direct sea, air and postal links with China and his officials gave the green light to the gift of the pandas.

Only the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and a few Taiwanese oppose Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan's arrival.

On Tuesday, DPP lawmaker Lai Ching-teh blasted President Ma for trading Taiwan's sovereignty, because China reported the two pandas' trip to Taiwan as an internal transfer.

Lee Chun-yi, another DPP lawmaker, vowed that he would never take his children to see Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan.

"If China names the pandas as "reunion," we can give China a pair of Taiwan monkeys named Tai Tai and Du Du," he said. Tai Du means "Taiwan independence."