[MSN] FW: Chinese urge MOU speedup

[MSN]

From: Dave Welsh [mailto:dwelsh46 at cox.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 12:47 PM
To: 'Unidroit-L (Unidroit-L at yahoogroups.com)'; 'Ancientartifacts
(Ancientartifacts at yahoogroups.com)'
Subject: Chinese urge MOU speedup


The United States is where the largest amount of smuggled Chinese cultural
relics end up and its government should work faster toward preventing the
illicit trade

http://duvel.te.verweg.com/pipermail/msn-list/2008-February/009382.html

The United States is where the largest amount of smuggled Chinese cultural
relics end up and its government should work faster toward preventing the
illicit trade, a top official said Tuesday.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) should be expedited to
that effect, Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural
Heritage (SACH), told China Daily.

"Among other countries, we want most to sign such an agreement with the US.
We have worked on it for more than four years but the process has been slow
recently," Shan said.

Shan was speaking on the sidelines of a signing of an MOU between the SACH
and the Ministry of Culture of Greece towards cooperation in the prevention
of the theft, illegal excavation and illicit trade of cultural property.

.

China has always called for the US to sign such an MOU, and the request has
been supported by American archaeologists and scholars, Shan said. The US
State Department also held a hearing on China's request under the 1970
UNESCO convention.

But influential museum directors and collectors in the US have been against
signing the MOU, and they have "held the incorrect view that these Chinese
cultural properties in the US have become part of American culture because
they were there for a long time", Shan said.

"These properties were taken out of their places of origin in a wretched
way," he said.

"The directors should come and see how invaluable murals were cruelly cut
into pieces and taken away, and how ancient tombs were raided," he said.

.

**********
COMMENTARY
**********

The Chinese position regarding this MOU has been compromised by its broad
scope, and by the manner in which many of the antiquities included in the
proposed Restricted List are privately collected and traded in China. An
often-cited example of such contradictions is the proposal that ancient
Chinese coins should be included.

Unfortunately for those advocating that inclusion, Wang Gang (a wealthy
Chinese capitalist who operates in association with the state run Bank of
China) owns some 500 tons of ancient Chinese coins, estimated at about 90
million pieces and representing about 70% of China's supply. He has made a
fortune selling these coins - not to collectors, but to tourists. It seems
ludicrous that the Bank of China would sell genuine ancient Chinese coins to
tourists, and then ask that the U.S. restrict the importation of these same
coins. 

If the Chinese government feels that the loss of ancient coins places their
cultural patrimony in jeopardy, then why do they allow the wealthiest of
Chinese citizens to amass huge quantities of them and sell them commercially
to foreigners? 

Other almost unanswerable conflicts arise from the vast Chinese black market
for forgeries and imitations of antiquities. Only the best experts can
detect some of the forgeries being offered for sale, and certainly it would
be almost impossible for US Customs officials to determine authenticity of
such pieces.

Because of these issues, the Chinese MOU is obstructed not so much by any
lack of will on the part of US officials, as by a clear perception that it
is inherently unfair to Americans. It is also (as presently drafted) in
serious conflict with requirements of the CPIA to the effect that the
requesting nation must demonstrate a sincere and effective effort to
suppress illicit antiquities excavation and trade.

Dave Welsh
Unidroit-L Listowner
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Unidroit-L
dwelsh46 at cox.net