Rank

Big Mouth

It appears I put my foot in my mouth a few months ago when I suggested that Big Mouth the Panda would not be selected by Chinese handlers to be sent to Taiwan.

It turns out that the male "#19" panda selected by China is nicknamed Big Mouth and he will be paired with #16 and sent to Taiwan - so long as the authorities here agree.

My argument was that China would perceive it as too much of a risk to send a big mouth to Taiwan, who may spill state secrets. I guess I wasn't really thinking straight. This is a Panda. Pandas only talk in cartoons ...

Updated 2006/01/07: A suggestion comes to me that Taiwan's government should be quick to accept the pair of pandas and just as quickly rename them Democracy (Minzhu) and Freedom (Ziyou) when they arrive. My understanding from the AWSJ is that a contest is being held and 16 and 19 are to have their names revealed on Jan. 28. So maybe those are the names incscribed in their passports, but couldn't they have pet names in Taiwan?