Kaohsiung City has been promised a pair of rare white tigers by China’s Guangzhou Province as a token of friendship between the two, the Kaohsiung City Council said in a statement yesterday.
Guangzhou Province Communist Party Secretary Zhu Xiaodan (朱小丹) made the promise during a banquet hosted in honor of a 50-member Kaohsiung delegation led by City Council Speaker Chuang Chi-wang (莊啟旺) that arrived the previous day on a five-day tour to promote tourism.
“The two white tigers from the Guangzhou Xiangjiang Wildlife Park will be sent to Kaohsiung City immediately after China’s donation of two giant pandas are sent to Taiwan,” Zhu was quoted as saying, adding that he would do his utmost to promote bilateral exchanges.
Guangzhou Mayor Zhang Guangning (張廣寧), who was also present at the banquet, pledged to help the Kaohsiung City Government achieve its goal of making the city a point of entry and departure for Chinese tourists to boost local tourism revenues, the press release said.
It quoted Chuang as telling the banquet that the city looked forward to stepping up trade, cultural and tourism exchanges with China.
He said that Kaohsiung residents had high expectations that Chinese tourists would use the city as their point of entry and departure after Taiwan opens its doors wider to Chinese tourists.
Chuang also took advantage of the occasion to promote the 2009 World Games scheduled for next July in Kaohsiung City, inviting Guangzhou residents to visit the international sports event.
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