NPM collection better left in place if China invades Taiwan, says former director
前院長表示，如果中國入侵台灣，故宮文物最好留在原地
| National Palace Museum debunks rumor that part of its relics to be evacuated to US or Japan
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The collection of Taiwan’s National Palace Museum (NPM) will be better off if it remains where it is in the event of a Chinese assault, suggested a former director. Feng Ming-chu (馮明珠), who headed the museum in Taipei between 2012-2016, said the tens of thousands of relics and artifacts NPM holds will be safer in the museum's storage rooms, according to China Times. She was addressing the issue of how to deal with cultural treasures if there was a Chinese invasion. Staying put is the best arrangement for the antiquities and this is the consensus of all NPM retirees, Feng claimed. Situated on the hillside of Yangmingshan in Taipei, the museum itself has its own security mechanisms and well-built storage facilities, she added. “Nobody will want to bomb the site should a war break out,” she believes. The remarks come as China has ratcheted up military activities around Taiwan in protest against the visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week. Rumors have swirled online about the NPM planning to relocate about 90,000 out of its 700,000-strong collection to the U.S. and Japan for protection, which has been rebutted by the museum as fake news. CNN ran a report on July 30 about the first ever wartime response drill by NPM in late July that focused on evacuating its massive collection of artifacts, prompted by lessons learned from the Russia-Ukraine war. According to the report, incumbent director Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) said the NPM will seek to evacuate 90,000 pieces deemed “of higher value and taking up less space,” but he declined to disclose details of the evacuation plan. The NPM promised in March that relevant plans would be submitted to the legislative body as early as July. No such plan has been received, said KMT lawmaker Lin Yi-hua (林奕華), who believes the museum can conduct a closed-door briefing on how the relics will be transported and stored due to the classified nature of the issue. |
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| Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer | |
| 2022-08-08 |
