China is planning to construct a new national park to save the endangered Siberian tiger and Amur leopard from extinction.

The proposed US-style national park scheme will be located in northeast China in the Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, spanning 5,600 square miles. If realized, this will be 60 percent bigger than the US' Yellowstone National Park.

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Many environmentalists are commending the proposal, which will be drafted with more detailed planning before the end of the decade, IBT reported.

Unlike giant pandas, the two big cats are facing the brink of extinction. Based on statistics, there are only 40 Amur leopards left in the wild in 2007, with none spotted in China and Korea and only a few in remote Russia. But conservation efforts doubled the figure with 12 leopards found living or near China, Shanghaiist reported.

The Siberian or Amur tiger also had a spectacular rebound from a similar low. In 1998, only between six and nine Siberian tigers were estimated to be living in the area. But the number climbed to 27 in 2015.

Currently, an estimated 400 tigers are believed to out mostly in Russia and at least 30 are in China, although they are facing some problems with the locals. Although the number has increased, it is still not enough to let the species thrive.

The sustained efforts and policy amendments by China and other conservation groups like World Wildlife Fund and WCS brought an impressive recovery of the official count of these endangered species over the years. Moreover, introducing new rules such as gun ban for civilians, tiger reserves construction, and ban of logging have significantly helped in raising the numbers, IBT reported.

Meanwhile, Ge Jianping, deputy director of Beijing Normal University, noted how China's geological condition is more favorable than across the border.

"It is vital for China to make a long-term mechanism in order to consolidate and sustain the progress in protecting wild Siberian tigers and Amur leopards," he said.