A male giant panda cub born at a zoo in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, was sent to China from Kansai International Airport near Osaka on Monday for breeding purposes, NHK television reported.

The 30-month-old panda named Yuhin from Adventure World in the popular hot-spring town of Shirahama was born to Meimei and Yongming on Dec. 17, 2001.

Meimei and Yongming are both on loan from China, NHK's news channel quoted zoo officials.

Yuhin was the fourth panda at the zoo and the second to be born there. China had asked for Yuhin as he is considered to have high breeding potential, the officials were quoted as saying.

Yuhin will be kept at a giant panda breeding and nurturing research institute in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province where facility officials will wait for him to grow before they try breeding.