Photo: National Cultural Heritage Administration

Photo: National Cultural Heritage Administration

Photo: National Cultural Heritage Administration

Photo: National Cultural Heritage Administration

China and the US should continue to act in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit, move toward each other, and accomplish more concrete good deeds that benefit both countries and their peoples, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Friday.

Guo made the remarks at a regular press conference while responding to a question regarding the return of 64 pieces (sets) of Chinese cultural artifacts, artworks, and paleontological fossils by the US.

On September 16 and 17 local time, China's National Cultural Heritage Administration(NCHA) received the 64 items in Washington and New York, which  were handed over respectively by US Homeland Security Investigations and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. All items had been originally seized by US law enforcement agencies in the course of their work.

At the return ceremonies, Rao Quan, a vice minister of Culture and Tourism and administrator of the NCHA, signed the confirmation of the return and receipt on behalf of China.

The returned relics include the torso of a bodhisattva statue from the Tianlongshan Grottoes, as well as various statues, terracotta figures, dinosaur skeleton fossils, fish fossils, and dinosaur egg fossils. 

According to the NCHA, this week's repatriation marks the fifth time that the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has returned cultural relics to China. The process was facilitated through close coordination between the NCHA, Chinese diplomatic and consular missions in the US, and US authorities.

Following the  signing of a China-US intergovernmental memorandum of understanding on preventing the illegal import of Chinese cultural relics into the US, pragmatic cooperation has yielded fruitful results, with more than 20 batches and over 700 pieces (sets) of Chinese artifacts and artworks lost in the US successfully returned to China, Guo said.

Guo noted that this return is the latest outcome of implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state at their Beijing meeting and demonstrates the broad prospects for building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability.

"The two sides should continue to act in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit, move toward each other, and accomplish more concrete good deeds that benefit both countries and peoples," Guo noted.

Global Times