China has delayed sending two giant pandas to Malaysia, a Malaysian Minister said on Friday, as ties between the two countries soured over the missing jetliner since March.
“The two pandas were scheduled to arrive on April 16 but because of the incident, the Chinese ambassador said they would send them at the end of May,” Environment Minister G. Palanivel was quoted as saying by the official news agency Bernama.
“They want to look for the black box first,” he added.
China has criticised Malaysia’s handling of the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the days after it went missing on March 8, and demanded it intensify its efforts to find the plane, currently thought to have gone down in the southern Indian Ocean.
More than two thirds of those on board were Chinese citizens.
Beijing has long used so—called panda diplomacy, and the latest pair were to be loaned to Malaysia for 10 years to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was to visit China in May to commemorate the anniversary, amid tensions over the plane’s disappearance and aftermath.
Passengers’ relatives have protested in front of the Malaysian embassy in Beijing, accusing the government of covering up details, and shouting allegations of murder.
Chinese citizens have called for a boycott of Malaysia Airlines. At least 30,000 Chinese tourists have cancelled bookings to visit the country, Malaysia’s Tourism Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz said.
Last year, 1.8 million tourists from China visited Malaysia, making up 7 per cent of total arrivals.
