A Chinese act of “panda diplomacy” has ended in failure with Finland announcing it will return two of the giant mammals that it had been gifted.

The pandas, Lumi (Snow) and Pyry (Snowstorm), were delivered to a Finnish zoo in January 2018 after a visit by China’s President Xi Jinping.

But Reuters reports the Nordic country’s first pandas will be handed back to China eight years earlier than originally planned because they have been costing too much.

Ahtari Zoo, a 60-hectare zoo in Ahtari in central Finland, said it could no longer afford the pandas’ upkeep, which included a huge amount of food plus the costly impacts of inflation.

Ahtari chair Risto Sivonen told Reuters the private zoo had spent more than €8 million ($13 million) on the facility.

The company also faced annual costs of €1.5 million ($2.44 million) for the pandas’ upkeep, including a preservation fee paid to China.

The zoo had hoped the pandas would attract more visitors. Instead it had accumulated mounting debts as the pandemic curbed travel, Reuters reported.

The two pandas will enter quarantine before their trip home. Photo: Getty

Last year, Finland’s government rejected a plea for funding to help the pandas remain.

The Finnish pandas were meant to stay for 15 years but instead they will go through a one-month quarantine before they are shipped back to China.

Panda diplomacy is China’s practice of sending pandas to countries of its choosing to shore up friendships and alliances and for wildlife conservation.

During a visit to Australia in June, Chinese Premier Li Qiang offered to send pandas in an offer of goodwill after previously strained relations between the two countries that led to a trade spat.