CHINA> Taiwan, HK, Macao
Qing relics set to travel to Taiwan
By Xie Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-16 09:29

Chou Kung-shin, director of Taipei's "National Palace Museum", left, is escorted by a Chinese officer upon arrival at Forbidden City in Beijing, China, February 15, 2009. [Agencies]

Chou was highly impressed by the rich collection in the Forbidden City. "We really need to boost our communication to better serve people across the Straits," she said.

Chou and her team will leave for Shanghai today to discuss the possibility of holding a joint exhibition of the relics from the two museums at the 2010 World Expo.

Taiwan may agree to send part of the famous Song Dynasty painting, Riverside Scene at the Pure Moon Festival, to Shanghai so that the complete work can be displayed there. The other part of the painting is in Beijing.

But Chou said one of the biggest problems hampering the display of relics from the Taipei museum on the mainland was the law.

Taiwan is reluctant to "lend" antiques to the mainland because mainland laws don't have a "free of capture and seizure" clause, and Taiwan fears the mainland could impound them, the island's media reported.

Taipei "National Palace Museum" has very strict rules on antiques. In 1996, the US became the first to borrow them to hold an exhibition on a "free of capture and seizure" condition. Later, France, Germany and Austria did the same.

Chou, however, said discussions between the two sides this time was not aimed at solving these problems. Earlier, she had said: "No official document or memorandum will be signed during this visit."