Malaysia-China friendship in focus as second panda cub born in country is named Yi Yi
- Born last January after being conceived in mid-October 2017, Yi Yi is the offspring of giant pandas Xing Xing and Liang Liang
- Her parents were sent to Malaysia by China in May 2014 to mark 40 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries
Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar said Yi Yi’s birth was “momentous” as mother panda Liang Liang had conceived her outside the usual mating season.
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“[Yi Yi] is active, bonds well with her mother and is in good health. Though the cub still feeds on milk, it has also been exposed to other diets such as bamboo leaves and carrots,” he said.
Their first cub, Yi Yi’s sister Nuan Nuan, was born in August 2015 and sent back to China in late 2017 as part of an agreement that cubs born in captivity must be returned at 24 months old.
Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian, who was also present at the naming ceremony, described the pandas as “friendship emissaries”, adding that Xing Xing and Liang Liang were now the “most productive giant pandas overseas”.
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“That fully shows that friendship really multiplies. It also shows the fact that Malaysia is really a very beautiful and very comfortable home for the Chinese giant pandas,” he said.
Malaysia is among the few countries where Chinese giant pandas have successfully procreated, and holds the record for the quickest conception at just 15 months after the original pair were settled in the National Zoo.
In 2018, Xavier announced that the Malaysian government had spent 4.65 million ringgit that year on managing the National Zoo’s Giant Panda Conservation Centre, with costs expected to balloon to 7.38 million ringgit this year because of a “one-off” conservation fee of about 2.38 million ringgit.
