France celebrated the birth of its first panda in August and on 4 December, held a naming ceremony for it. French First Lady Brigitte Macron, who was chosen to be the cub's "godmother", attended the event but did not get a very warm welcome from her fury ward.

The male cub's mother Huan Huan has been on loan from China since 2012 and a number of Chinese dignitaries were present at the "baptism" as part of Beijing's "panda diplomacy". Chinese singer Peng Liyuan who was chosen to be the panda's Chinese godmother was unable to attend the event.

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The 64-year-old wife of President Emmanuel Macron gushed over the new resident of the Beauval Zoo but was startled when the young bear growled and attempted to jump at her through his glass enclosure. She choose to keep her distance from the energetic cub but joined in the applause as China's junior foreign minister Zhang Yesui unveiled his name as Yuan Meng, which means "dream come true" in Chinese.

"Through him, we have a responsibility to work on building Franco-Chinese friendship," Macron said.

Huan Huan was artificially inseminated from her partner Yuan Zi, and Yuan Meng was born on 4 August along with his twin sibling who died soon after. The cub, weighing 142.4 grams at birth, opened his eyes for the first time in mid-September and weighed 7.903 kilos as of 4 December, the Beauval zoo said on its website.

Yuan Meng
Yuan Meng, a four-month-old baby panda, is seen inside his enclosure during a ceremony attended by his godmother, Brigitte Macron REUTERS/Benoit Tessier