Taiwan demands art guarantees

Oct 20, 2009

Taiwan demands art guarantees

TAIPEI - TAIWAN President Ma Ying-jeou said on Tuesday he would like to loan priceless art to Japan but first Tokyo must pass a law to guarantee none of the items get confiscated - and presumably handed to China.

Mr Ma was speaking to a group of visiting Japanese parliamentarians who asked if Taipei's National Palace Museum, which boasts the world's largest collection of classical Chinese art, could put some of the works on display in Japan.

'The president said it would be his pleasure if it can be done,' the presidential office said in a statement.

'He said he hoped the Japanese government could enact a law or revise existing laws to prevent the confiscation of the collection, so as to ensure the safe return of Taiwan's national treasures.'

Mr Ma did not directly mention concerns that the art could be handed over to China. However, the museum has more than 655,000 artefacts spanning 7,000 years from the Neolithic period to the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911.

They were removed from Beijing's Forbidden City in the 1930s to prevent them falling into the hands of invading Japanese troops and were taken to Taiwan by the Nationalists as they fled communist forces on the mainland. -- AFP