well I guess two giant pandas could carry a giant cannon inbetween them.
Why should this be mad?
it is inventive - a lot of people use dinosaurs, enlarged felines ot whatever, so why not pandas?
at least they are chinese....
a chinese dragon would have been so boring....
moreover, Pandas have a very good natural cityfight camo, and You could complement the naval forces with orcas

(OK, Orcas are not necessarily chinese, let's say dwarf Yangtse Orcas)
hmm, dwarf Orca naval cavalry....