Chinese Paper Demands British Museum Return ‘Stolen’ Artifacts
- Call comes just before UK foreign secretary travels to Beijing
- China-UK relations have been hurt by crackdown in Hong Kong
The British Museum in London, UK.
Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images
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Chinese state media has urged the UK’s most famous museum to return items “stolen” in past centuries, potentially widening a rift between the Asian nation and the West.
“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 Monday.