Is the West afraid? – Country sent inspectors to scout for looted relics

Museums’ reaction

A few museums in Europe were compelled to respond to the news story, with two UK museums saying they have nothing to hide.

“We understand it is about archiving and documentation. We would be happy to have any discussion with anyone who comes forward. But we have not been contacted by anyone at this point,” a British Museum spesperson said. 

A spokesman for London’s Victoria and Albert Museum said they had not yet received any requests regarding objects from the Old Summer Palace: “Should there be inquiries, the museum would be happy to falitate research.”

An article in The Times last week reported, however, that the British Museum is very concerned that China may take advantage of this large-scale overseas search for relics to recover national treasures, because according to UNESCO’s 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit, Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, museums must return cultural relics to their origina owners.

French museums seldom voice an opinion about the international search for cultural relics, but their attitude is clear: they intend to hold on to what they have.

Last February, at a Paris courtroom during a hearing to determine the rightful owner of bronze animal heads looted from the Old Summer Palace, a Global Times reporter in the gallery heard the lawyer for Pierre Berge – who owned the pieces – say the heads of majorrench museums were very nervous about the possible outcome of the lawsuit.

They were afraid that if the decision were detrimental to their hold on Old Summer Palace artifacts, their collections of Chinese relics would be in danger.