The members of the Flying Leopard Commando Team led by Yang Guang are on the front of recovering overseas cultural relics, and as a Raider of the Lost Ark, they are capable and well-trained, and they undertake the task of recovering important cultural relics lost overseas, and they quietly but effectively recover some important cultural relics targets in various special ways. In Britain, the United States, France, and Germany, they quietly investigated China's cultural relics lost overseas; In various ways such as cultural relics exchange, inspection, and verification of cultural relics, we carry out the transfer of contracts like a group of excellent magicians.

Of course, the means of these special forces are far from these, and in order to achieve the goal of recovering cultural relics, the means used can be described as exhaustive. In the major museums, aristocratic mansions, and large estates in Western countries, some ghost-like figures often appear in the night, so that these originally peaceful places are ghostly and strange things continue to happen, and the cultural relics in these places will disappear overnight, and the guards will either disappear or die inexplicably. The No. 9 Flying Leopard Detachment left behind those Chinese cultural relics that could not be imitated, and the rest passed through the cultural relics smuggling syndicates and theft syndicates in the underworld, and threw these stolen cultural relics on the black market of cultural relics around the world, and the "stolen money" was laundered and then flowed to the secret account of the Shannan Special Administrative Region Headquarters, and of course part of it was used as funds for their overseas activities to carry out such special operations.

In the course of investigating and recovering China's lost overseas cultural relics, Yang Guang and his colleagues found that many of the histories about the burning of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces and the war of aggression against China by the Eight-Nation Coalition were deliberately covered up by the political axes of Western countries, and there were very few books in the library about this record, and even if there were, they were articles celebrating "victory" and boasting about themselves. Few people in Western countries know the truth about this historical event.

History must not pass away silently, let alone such a tragic history. While Yang Guang and his colleagues are carrying out "civil recourse", China's political axe is also carrying out "official recourse" actions through a series of means.

On October 6, 1960, on the 100th anniversary of the burning of the Old Summer Palace, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a meeting at the National Press Center for Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union, the United States, Italy, Austria, and Hungary. The Cultural Counsellors of the Embassies of Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries in China attended a press conference by Chinese and foreign political axes on the recovery of cultural relics looted abroad since 1840.

"Who is responsible for the catastrophe that shocked the world by burning the Old Summer Palace? Who was responsible for the aftermath of the burning and looting that took place in Yenching in August 1900, which was rare in the world? For 100 years, none of your political axes involved in this incident have publicly acknowledged and held themselves accountable. Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Yi faced more than 300 Chinese and foreign journalists, as well as Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union, the United States, Italy, Austria and Hungary. The cultural counselors of the embassies of Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries in China asked loudly.

"Mr. Foreign Minister, it was a very regrettable war," the British Times reporter stood up after receiving Mike, and said: "As far as I know from the history, the Pasha Li incident was the direct cause of the burning of the Old Summer Palace, and if the Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty did not tear up the Treaty of Tientsin at that time, and very arrogantly detained the British diplomatic envoy Pasha Li, who had gone to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty because he refused to kneel and salute, and his entourage, and escorted him to the Old Summer Palace, it would not have happened to burn down the place where the Qing Emperor lived. The incident at the Old Summer Palace, so the Qing emperor at that time should be primarily responsible for this matter. ”

"What you say is completely the logic of the robbers, and the so-called Pashali incident is just an excuse for the wolf to eat the lamb." Li Dawei took a very tough attitude to hit back at the British Times reporter's statement: "If you follow this logic, can I lead the Indian Ocean Fleet of the People's Liberation Army to your London tomorrow and ask you British political axes to allow China to export drugs to Britain that can bring huge profits?" What about the many privileges of tariff agreements, consular jurisdiction and one-sided most-favored-nation treatment? If you don't agree, can I burn your Buckingham Palace? ”

Li Dawei paused and looked at the Times reporter and said: "100 years ago, the attitude of the Western powers towards the Chinese was: These East Asian sick men who can only bow their eyebrows and bend their waists and swallow their voices will not rob or rob, and they will kill in vain. Now, a hundred years later, shouldn't the descendants of you who burned the Old Summer Palace reflect on it? ””

"The Times reporter just now actually thought that the burning of the Old Summer Palace only burned down the place where the Qing emperor lived. Is this just the personal residence of the Qing emperor? Foreign Minister Chen Yi said angrily: "On the contrary, in the memory of the Chinese people, the Old Summer Palace is a part of China's historical heritage, the crystallization of the wisdom and great creativity of the Chinese working people, it carries China's extremely rich cultural information, and we cannot forget the destruction of the Old Summer Palace." These vicious arsonists have greatly hurt the feelings of the Chinese nation, and they have brought great trauma to the hearts of the Chinese. There is nothing more hateful than the burning of the Old Summer Palace to the Chinese people against the imperialists of the West! ”

"Foreign Minister Chen, I'm a reporter from AFP, and I just noticed that in your speech, you mentioned 'Who is responsible for the catastrophe that shocked the world?' This question. I once read a memoir written by a major who participated in the French Expeditionary Force, saying that there were also people in China who were involved in the robbery, and in his memoirs he described the situation as follows: Shockingly, a large number of Chinese appeared in the sack of the Old Summer Palace. From Tientsin onwards, they had been following the march of our French army, and they were like a band of robbers, snatching everything that could be taken, and we had tried to drive them away by force, but they were like a swarm of flies chasing the stench, and they followed wherever we went. When we arrived in Yanjing, there were more and more people, and they plundered, stolen, and even destroyed things that we didn't damage ourselves, and robbed what we could not take, and destroyed what we couldn't take away. They talk about it and enjoy it. Should these Chinese also bear some responsibility for this? ”

In fact, after the British and French forces burned the Old Summer Palace, a few palaces and terraces remained, and some gardens, stone bridges, statues and decorative columns were not seriously damaged. But in those dark days, some indisputable Chinese themselves have engaged in sabotage. Some locals, even the guards who stole themselves, kept taking materials from the garden to make fires, build houses, and exchange them for money, and some of the buildings that were intact or could still be repaired were completely destroyed.

"It cannot be denied that this may happen, after all, there is still a contradiction between the peasant class and the landlord class. But first of all, it is certain that the British and French forces killed or drove out the administrators of the Old Summer Palace, which was intact and orderly for more than 150 years from its establishment in 1707 to October 6, 1860. Foreign Minister Chen Yi said solemnly: "I think here we have to revisit a passage that the French writer Victor Hugo said in 1861: 'We, Europeans, always think of ourselves as civilized people; In our eyes, the Chinese are savages. Yet this is how civilization treats barbarism. In the future, when the judgment of history is presented, one of the robbers will be called France, and the other will be called England. However, I would like to make such a protest here, and I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to make my protest that it is always the axe of the robbers, and as for the people of the nations, who have never been robbers, the French Empire has embezzled half of its treasures, and now, she is so shameless as to take out these beautiful ancient artifacts of the summer palace for public display as the owner. I believe that one day France, which has been liberated and washed clean of its filth, will return its stolen goods to China, which has been robbed. Let me prove for the time being that these two marauders were responsible for this robbery. 'Mr. AFP reporter, I think 99 years ago Mr. Hugo answered your question today. ”

"Hello! Foreign Minister Chen, I am a reporter for the French newspaper Figarogen, and I very much agree with the great writer Hugo's statement, but Britain and France should bear their respective responsibilities in the disaster of the Old Summer Palace. In my opinion, the British are to blame, and the French can be counted as followers. Judging from the purpose of that war of aggression against China, the British were to dump opium in China, while the French came to China only to preach. Judging from the size of the troops, the British had more than 12,000 people participating, and there were cavalry, while we only had 8,000 people in France, and there was no cavalry, and the French had strongly opposed the burning of the Old Summer Palace. Bruce and British Commander Grant ordered the British [***] team to set fire to the Old Summer Palace. All I would like to know if the Chinese political axe will treat Britain and France differently when dealing with this incident.

Li Dawei pointed out: "Mr. Sekezi, you are obviously exonerating France. In fact, the robbery of the Old Summer Palace was first carried out by the French; Although the number of French troops participating in the war was small, they also received an indemnity of 8 million taels of no less than one penny from Britain after the war; The French commander Montauban also wanted to occupy the Zhoushan Islands forever. I think that the descendants of those who participated in the sacking of the Old Summer Palace must face this history head-on, show determination and courage, and bear historical responsibility for the burning of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces. First of all, the unconditional return of cultural relics looted from China. Compensation should be made for damage to China's state property.

"Frankfurt News, Sebastian, I would like to ask Vice Foreign Minister Li Dawei, as you know that there is a statute of limitations for any case, on what basis does China demand the return of cultural relics that were lost in the war 100 years ago? What do you think about the fact that many of the owners of cultural relics are now purchased through legal means, and is there a precedent for recovering antiquities looted in war? ”

"First of all, I would like to correct one of the words in your question, what I just said is the return of cultural relics looted from China, not the cultural relics that have been lost, these are two different concepts, you can't deliberately blur them." After a moment's reflection, Li Dawei said: "The earliest international convention dealing with the responsibility to protect cultural heritage during war was the Hague Convention. Article 56 of the Convention on the Laws and Customs of War on Land, annexed to the Hague Convention II of 1899 and Hague Convention IV of 1907, provides that 'the property of municipalities, including the property of religious, charitable, educational, artistic and scientific institutions, shall be treated as private property, even if owned by the State. Any confiscation, destruction and intentional damage to these institutions, historic buildings, works of art and science shall be prohibited and prosecuted by law. In other words, both conventions prohibit the looting of cultural property in times of war, whether it is owned by private or the State, and that looting is subject to law.

It is noteworthy that the unlawful and wanton widespread destruction and appropriation of property is a war crime when it is not militarily necessary. It is different from ordinary civil and criminal cases, and the stolen goods plundered in the war are neither unjust enrichment in civil law, nor are they subject to the statute of limitations in criminal law, and no matter how large the time span, the original owner has an indefinite right of recourse. All war criminals, even if they flee to the ends of the earth, must be brought to justice, and their looted property must be recovered wherever it is hidden. Of course, in this case, the offender in question is already dead, but the stolen goods must be recovered. If we do not recover it, we will undoubtedly automatically give up our due rights, recognize the legitimate surname of the imperialist bandit crime that burned the Old Summer Palace, and continue to deepen the psychological wounds of the Chinese people."

Li Dawei paused for a moment and then said: "To your second question, the cultural relics looted from China by the Western imperialist powers through wars of aggression since 1840. The source is the proceeds of looting, which are all illegal, so no matter how many times they change hands in the middle, they cannot change their surname as stolen goods, so no matter how they are obtained, they must be returned. For your third one, is there a previous precedent for recourse to looted artifacts in war. I think you as a German should know that after World War II, some countries returned some cultural relics in accordance with relevant laws and agreements, such as the American occupation authorities in 1945-1949 returned the art originally belonging to Germany to the West German political axe, and the Soviet political axe also returned some of the original German art to the Ming boiled German political axe at the end of the 50s. ”

Li Dawei said in a very inflammatory tone: "In fact, the looting of cultural relics is not a doom for a country in China, since the colonial period after the 17th century, the cultural relics of the colonized countries have almost without exception been plundered by the colonizers. For example, the famous Code of Hammurabi was discovered and transported by a French archaeological team in Susa, Iran, and is now stored in the Louvre Museum. In North Africa and Western Asia, the results of Napoleon's crusades led to the theft of large quantities of Egyptian antiquities to France. In 1800, the British minister to Turkey even orchestrated the shipment of sculptures of the Parthenon and Greek mythology to the British Museum in London. The cultural heritage of a nation is an objective and true record of the people of the nation in the process of historical development, the crystallization of the wisdom of the people of the nation, and the huge material and spiritual wealth of its successors. Therefore, we strongly urge the political axes of the Western countries to return to their countries of origin all the illegally plundered cultural relics of other peoples in your museums and public and private collections. Rebuilding the damaged cultural heritage of the country of origin through the return of cultural relics that you have unjustifiably deprived of is already a moral principle that should be recognized and accepted by the international community at present. ”

I'm David from the Associated Press: I would like to know how China's political axe will be used to achieve the unconditional return of cultural relics looted from China in the first place. What about due compensation for damaged Chinese state property?

"First of all, we hope that the political axes and people of all countries will know that these Chinese cultural relics plundered by illegal means are China's national property and concern China's national sovereignty and national dignity. It is China's core interest. The Chinese people strongly demand that their central government do something about it, that the Chinese cultural relics acquired by various countries through various illegal means must be returned, and that the damaged Chinese state property must be compensated, which is the voice of the 600 million Chinese people. Here, I would also like to take the trouble to convey the righteous voice of the Chinese people. Let the people of the countries where you live know the truth of the facts, so that they can fully realize that if you continue to take possession of these plundered Chinese cultural relics, you are harboring stolen goods, you are conniving at the criminal acts of those who committed heinous crimes in China in the past, and at the same time, you are extremely unfriendly to China's political axe and people. We will pursue their legal responsibilities in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics. As I have just said, but I would like to reiterate again, all war criminals must be brought to justice, even if they flee to the ends of the earth, and their looted property must be recovered wherever it is hidden. There is no discount on this.

Of course, we will also conduct active diplomatic consultations with the political axes of various countries, and strive to properly resolve the relevant issues through negotiations and friendly consultations between the political axes, and if they cannot be resolved through friendly consultations, China will reserve the right to resolve the issue through other means in order to safeguard China's core interests.

On the other hand, we will also work with the international community to formulate and improve relevant international laws as soon as possible to resolve disputes arising from the return of cultural relics as soon as possible.

(To be continued)