UK museum should return ‘stolen’ artifacts: Chinese paper's scathing editorial

The editorial comes ahead of an expected visit by UK foreign secretary James Cleverly to Beijing.

Chinese state media urged UK’s most famous museum to return items “stolen” during the colonial era. “We formally request the British Museum to return all Chinese cultural relics acquired through improper channels to China free of charge, and to refrain from adopting a resistant, protracted and perfunctory attitude,” the Global Times said in an editorial. The museum has 23,000 Chinese items, the newspaper said, giving examples of a painting from the Tang dynasty and bronze vessels.

A sign for the British Museum is seen in London, Britain. (Reuters)

“Most Chinese collections were certainly looted or stolen by Britain when it created and later took advantage of China’s crisis, or even directly robbed China,” the newspaper said referring to 19th century upheaval in the Asian nation. The Global Times said that it backed other countries who sought the return of artifacts.

The editorial comes ahead of an expected visit by UK foreign secretary James Cleverly to Beijing in a bid to repair ties hurt by the China's crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition.

The editorial was widely shared on China’s Weibo social media platform as opinion remained divided on the newspaper’s stance. Some accused it of trying to distract the public from the nation’s flagging economy with one user posting, “The public know that the economy is on a downward trend and you are working hard to evoke a sense of cohesion for our nation. But populism is not a good thing.”

The British Museum is set to hold a summer exhibit called China’s Hidden Century. It will cover a period of the Qing dynasty from 1796 to 1912 and will display the original Treaty of Nanjing which ended the First Opium War and ceded Hong Kong to Britain.