Giant pandas in Malaysia

The male and female pandas, called Fu Wa (Lucky) and Feng Yi (Pheonix), are on a 10-year loan from China to commemorate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

They arrived on a special flight from Cheng Du in southwestern China on Wednesday and were then transferred to an enclosure at the National Zoo in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur.

At the welcoming ceremony, Malaysia's Environment Minister Palanivel Govindasamy said the pair will be in quarantine for 30 days before the public can see them.

"May the arrival of these two precious icons contribute towards the everlasting friendship and sustainable cooperation between Malaysia and the People's Republic of China," he said.

Delay over plane search

The pandas should have arrived in mid-April, but China postponed the transfer due to criticism of the way Kuala Lumpur handled the search operation for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The search is ongoing for the plane, which vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8. Many of the 239 people on board were Chinese.

The two countries agreed in 2012 that China would send the giant pandas for a 10-year stay, in Beijing's latest use of "panda diplomacy".

The eight-year-old pandas come with a price tag of a million dollars a year. If they successfully mate while in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is entitled to keep the panda cubs.

lw/rc (AP, AFP, dpa)