A German zoo has felt the wrath of Chinese social media users after it proposed the names 'Hong' and 'Kong' for its first-born panda twins in support of the region's pro-democracy protests.

Berlin zoo offered readers of Tagesspiegel, a Berlin daily newspaper, the chance to choose the names of the pandas in a poll.

Options included, Yin and Yang, Ping and Pong, Plisch and Plum and Max and Moritz - with Hong and Kong emerging as the readers' favourite.

Soon after Germany's best-selling paper, Bild, got behind the readers' political name choice writing: 'Pandas are China's involuntary tool to win the hearts and minds of Westerners and render them blind to its crimes.'

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Zookeepers hold baby male pandas Meng Yuan and Meng Xiang during the pandas' first presentation to the media at Zoo Berlin on December 09, 2019 in Berlin, Germany

The cubs are on loan to Germany from China along with their mother, Meng Meng, and father Jiao Qing, who arrived at the zoo in the Summer of 2017 to much fan fare.

Berlin zoo pays around $1 million a year to borrow the animals, with most of the money going towards a conservation and breeding research programme in China.

That price is now set to rise after the birth of the twins although it is not known by how much, reports The Times.

Famed for its 'panda diplomacy', China has dispatched its national treasure to only about a dozen countries as a symbol of close relations.

Outraged Chinese social media commenters have now called for the pandas to be repatriated to China due to the insult they feel Germany has caused by proposing the names 'Hong' and 'Kong'.

'Meng Xiang' appears to wave at the press at his official presentation to the media

But yesterday, 100 days since their birth customary to Chinese tradition, the male cubs were formally named; Meng Xiang, which translates as Longed-for Dream and Meng Yuan, Fulfilled Dream.

The mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, and the Chinese ambassador Wu Ken, were present at the closed ceremony.

Mr Müller told The Times: 'I was very curious about the names and like the people of Berlin was happy to let myself be surprised.'

In a statement the zoo stated that the cubs will remain with them in Berlin for the next two to four years until they are weaned off their mother, at which point they will be returned to China.

Despite the final non-political naming decision several Hong Kong activists have been caught in the drama online.

Two giant panda cubs 'Meng Yuan' (left) and 'Meng Xiang' are presented to the media after they were given their names at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin yesterday

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong called on Berlin Zoo to name the two Chinese panda cubs 'Democracy' and 'Freedom', reports BILD.

Adding: 'Germany could send a clear signal to China.'

The 13lb cubs have no clue of the political weight on their little shoulders, and are focusing on learning to walk before they make their public debut at the zoo in January.

China has previously given three pandas to Germany but the last one, 34-year-old Bao Bao, died in Berlin in 2012, having become the oldest male panda in the world.