The two experts arrived Tuesday after Taipei Zoo’s Tuan Tuan, suspected to have a malignant brain tumor, took a turn for the worse.The giant panda and his mate, Yuan Yuan, were gifted to the zoo in 2008 during a time of warming relations between China and Taiwan, which split amid civil war in 1949.Ties have deteriorated since then, with Beijing cutting off contacts in 2016 following the election of independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected in 2020.Polls routinely show Taiwanese rejecting China’s demand for political unification between the sides, favoring instead the status quo of de-facto independence.Zoo spokesperson Eric Tsao said the sides were pooling their knowledge and experience to provide Tuan Tuan with “the best treatment and the best daily care.”Chief veterinarian Lai Yen-hsueh said the experts had agreed to hold off on surgery based on the animal’s possible reaction to anesthesia and the location of the diseased area."