TAIPEI, Taiwan -- With politics set aside, well-wishers gathered to wish the Taipei zoo’s senior panda a happy 20th birthday.

Visitors gathered around Yuanyuan's enclosure, eager to capture photos of her with a birthday cake shaped like the number 20.

Yuanyuan was born in China and arrived in Taiwan with her partner Tuantuan in 2008. Sadly, Tuantuan passed away in 2022 at the age of 18, leaving behind two female cubs, Yuanzai and Yuanbao, who are now 11 and 4 years old, respectively. Both cubs still reside at the zoo.

Danielle Shu, a 20-year-old Brazilian student residing in Taiwan, shared that she found online clips of the pandas to be a delightful distraction. “I just find them really funny and cute,” Shu said.

Giant pandas are native exclusively to China, and Beijing presents them as a gesture of political goodwill . Yuanyuan and Tuantuan arrived in Taiwan during a time of relative peace between the two sides, which were divided by a civil war in 1949. China considers the island as its own territory and claims it will be annexed by force if necessary.

Due to declining habitat and a notoriously low birthrate, giant panda populations have dwindled to around 1,900 in the mountains of western China. Additionally, 600 pandas are currently housed in zoos and breeding centers both within China and across the globe.