Kuala Lumpur: China has postponed plans to send a pair of pandas to Malaysia next week, a minister said on Thursday, as bilateral relations remain uneasy over the disappearance of flight MH370.
The two countries agreed in 2012 that China would send the giant pandas for a 10-year stay in Malaysia, in Beijing`s latest use of "panda diplomacy" to cement ties with other countries.
But Malaysia`s environment minister G. Palanivel told AFP: "They (China) are waiting for the results of MH370.
"They will delay the arrival," he said in a text message. "They might send in late May."
In a separate public statement, Palanivel said China and Malaysia have agreed that the giant pandas should arrive "at a more significant date" in May.
May 31 marks the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Palanivel did not elaborate on the reasons for the delay, but the circumstances of the animals` planned arrival appeared likely to cause embarrassment for China`s government -- they were due arrive on April 16 on a Malaysia Airlines flight.
The airline and Malaysia`s government have come under withering public criticism in China, whose 153 nationals made up the bulk of the 239 aboard the missing jet.
Malaysian news reports today quoted government officials saying at least 30,000 Chinese tourists had cancelled holidays in Malaysia in the wake of the missing plane drama.
China is Malaysia`s largest trading partner and Kuala Lumpur has been courting closer ties with Beijing. It had declared 2014 as "China-Malaysia Friendship Year".
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had requested the pandas from former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, who left office last year.
The pandas -- Feng Yi ("Phoenix") and Fu Wa ("Lucky") -- have already caused controversy in Malaysia over plans to house them in special USD 7.7 million facility in the national zoo in Kuala Lumpur.
