CHINA DENOUNCES HUMAN RIGHTS OFFER FOR BRONZE RELICS

BY THAM CHOY LIN

BEIJING, Feb 24 (Bernama) - China angrily denounced Tuesday an offer for the
return of two bronze relics as 'ridiculous' and renewed its demand for the
sculptures that are to be auctioned this week in Paris from an art collection
of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

"The cultural relics should be returned to China," Foreign Ministry news
spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular news briefing after a Paris court rejected a
bid by a group of Chinese lawyers to halt the sale.

Pierre Berge, the life-time companion of Saint Laurent, said he would
return the bronze rat and rabbit heads to Beijing in exchange for human rights
in China and liberty for Tibetans.

"Under the pretext of human rights, this is just ridiculous," Ma said.

China's cultural heritage authorities stated earlier that they would not buy
back relics that were stolen from China.

The two bronze sculptures were part of a set of 12 Chinese zodiac animals
that decorated a fountain clock in Yuanmingyuan, the old Summer Palace, that was
looted and torched by allied Anglo-French invaders in 1860.

The rat and rabbit heads are expected to fetch up to 10 million Euros each.

Five other heads are back in China's custody while the fate of the remaining
five is unknown.

Ma who referred to the relics as "illegally lost", said their sale would
"severely infringe on the cultural rights of the Chinese people and offend the
Chinese people."

"We hope the relevant parties can understand and respect our justifiable
requests," he said.
-- BERNAMA