China's two pandas will finally arrive in Malaysia next Wednesday after their initial arrival was put off amid a series of unfortunate incidents involving Chinese citizens in Malaysia.

The giant pandas Fu Wa and Geng Yi will arrive via MASkargo and will be on loan to Malaysia for 10 years, according to The Star .

 

However, the pandas, which are to be placed at Zoo Negara, will not make appearances until late June as they will have to be quarantined for a month, said the report.

 

The enclosure for the pandas in Zoo Negara, which can simulate a temperature of below 24 Celcius, was constructed at a cost of RM25 million.

 

Malaysia will also need to pay an annual fee of US$1 million to keep the pandas.

 

The pandas which were supposed to arrive last month was abruptly put on hold after a series of kidnappings of Chinese citizens in Sabah on top of the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, where 153 of 239 on board the plane were Chinese citizens.

 

Beijing-bound Flight MH370 went missing shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of March 8 and remains lost after 72 days of fruitless search in the South China Sea, Straits of Malacca and the Indian Ocean.

 

On April 2, Chinese tourist Gao Huayun and a Filipina resort worker Marcy Dayawan, were kidnapped by gunmen from the Singamata Adventures and Reef Resort off the coast of Semporna, Sabah and taken to southern Philippines.

 

On May 6, another Chinese national was kidnapped from a fish farm in Lahad Datu, Sabah, and was also believed to have been also taken to the southern Philippines.