Cooperation needed to stop trade in relics

The United States is where the largest amount of smuggled Chinese cultural relics end up and its government should work faster toward preventing the illicit trade, a top official said yesterday.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) should be expedited to that effect, Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), told China Daily.

"Among other countries, we want most to sign such an agreement with the US. We have worked on it for more than four years but the process has been slow recently," Shan said.