Restitution of looted artistic works: China "impatient" to cooperate with France

China said Thursday it was “impatient coopérer” with France for the restitution of looted Chinese artistic works, at a time when the French Parliament is preparing to adopt a law facilitating such returns. The legislative text is presented as being able to encourage the removal from French collections of goods illicitly acquired during French colonization, when they are requested by their country or people of origin The Senate must vote this Thursday in order to definitively adopt this law. The deputies had already unanimously given the green light.

“China welcomes the sense of responsibility shown by the French side to promote the return of looted cultural property to their country of origin”indicated Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “She hopes that the bill will be brought to fruition quickly and looks forward to cooperating with France in this area,” he stressed during a regular press briefing.

Requests for the restitution of works looted by France, coming from many countries, particularly African ones, have long encountered resistance from major French museums.

The new law would allow the French government to return works, by decree, without having to resort to specific laws piecemeal, as has been the rule until now. The text only targets property that was acquired between 1815 and 1972, marking the beginning of the Second Empire French colonial rule and the entry into force of a UNESCO convention.

“China and France have already carried out numerous successful cooperations in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property and the promotion of the return of cultural objects illegally removed from the territory,” Lin Jian said Thursday.

The family of French billionaire François-Henri Pinault returned two precious bronze animal heads to China free of charge in 2013. They came from the old Summer Palace in Beijing, a real “Chinese Versailles” devastated in 1860 by the Franco-British armed forces, and of which only scattered ruins remain today. This bag was denounced by the writer Victor Hugo and is still strongly resented in China. A considerable number of objects were looted on this occasion and have since been scattered around the world.

France also returned several valuable gold plates in the mid-2010s, after being convinced that they had been stolen from a Chinese archaeological site.