Panda pair make delayed journey to Malaysia
Two pandas loaned from China were due to arrive in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur early on Wednesday after a monthlong delay amid tensions between the two countries over the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner.
Female panda Feng Yi and male partner Fu Wa were being transported from the Dujiangyan base of Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province and flown to Malaysia on Tuesday night by MAS Kargo. The airline is a cargo division of parent company Malaysia Airlines.
Panda breeders Li Caiwu and Yang Haidi accompanied the animals and will stay with them until they are used to their new environment.
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Staff members at Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province load female panda Feng Yi into a cage for the journey to Malaysia on Tuesday. Feng Yi and male partner Fu Wa were due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur early on Wednesday. Yi You / For China Daily |
Zhang Hemin, chief of the reserve's administrative bureau, told China Daily the pandas were 7 years old and sexually mature.
Wolong panda expert Tang Chunxiang said any offspring the pandas produced would be taken back to China between the ages of 2 and 4.
Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment James Dawos Mamit said people in Malaysia were eagerly awaiting the pandas' arrival.
On June 15, 2012, China and Malaysia signed a deal for two pandas to be loaned to Malaysia for 10 years to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the nations on May 31, 2014.
The pandas were initially scheduled to be flown to Malaysia on April 15. But on March 8, a Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 people, including 154 Chinese passengers, vanished after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.
A multinational search in the southern Indian Ocean has not found any trace of flight MH370.
Some family members of the Chinese passengers became dissatisfied with the Malaysian authorities' handling of the incident, citing inadequate and slow disclosure of information.
In reply, Malaysians said that their compatriots on the plane were also victims. Amid the tension, some Chinese Internet users urged the authorities to call off the panda loan.
"Sending the pandas in April during that tension would not have been appropriate," said Xu Liping, a Southeast Asian studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"But China and Malaysia have enjoyed a good relationship for 40 years. This incident has not hurt the overall relationship," he said.
Wolong deputy chief engineer Zhou Xiaoping, who has visited the pandas' base in Malaysia, said the country had prepared well for their arrival.
The 1.6-hectare panda complex at Zoo Negara features three main exhibit areas where the temperature will be kept under 24 C to mimic the pandas' natural habitat. Other facilities include an exercise area and incubator room.
Yang Yao in Beijing contributed to this story.
Contact the writers at huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn and linshujuan@chinadaily.com.cn
