Massive PLA drills around Taiwan spark worries over 700,000 treasures in Taipei Palace Museum

Name: Mainland China military exercises continue around Taiwan beyond announced deadline
Uploaded: 2022-08-09T12:45:14.000Z
Duration: 2 min 48 s
Description: Mainland China military exercises continue around Taiwan beyond announced deadline

The Palace Museum in Taipei boasts the world’s largest collection of imperial Chinese artefacts

Social media posts about relocation plans to US or Japan slammed as ‘disinformation’ by museum officials

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PLA Eastern Theatre Command fighter jets carry out combat training exercises around Taiwan. Photo: AP

Lawrence Chung

Published: 8:45pm, 9 Aug 2022

Taiwan is mulling over how and where to evacuate close to 700,000 pieces of cultural treasure brought in from mainland China decades ago, as the shadow of cross-strait war looms ever larger.

Massive war games staged by Beijing in recent days have prompted concerns over the safety of the imperial artefacts now displayed at the Taipei Palace Museum, and questions over whether there should be an effective evacuation plan for them.

The People’s Liberation Army has been staging large-scale live-fire drills encircling Taiwan since last Thursday in retaliation against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s unannounced visit to the island, which Beijing repeatedly warned against and has labelled a “provocation”.

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Mainland China military exercises continue around Taiwan beyond announced deadline

The speaker of the House of Representatives, second in line to the US presidency, became the highest-ranking American official to visit Taiwan in 25 years when she touched down on August 2. An enraged Beijing, which views self-governed Taiwan as part of its territory, has slammed the trip as a major violation of its sovereignty.

As the PLA carried out its intensive war games, some social media posts claimed fears of Beijing recapturing the treasures had prompted island authorities to order that the museum select some pieces for relocation. The museum would select 90,000 best pieces out of the 690,000 artefacts for evacuation to either Japan or the United States, the posts said.

Those claims have been sharply refuted by the Taipei Palace Museum as disinformation.

“It is disinformation. There was absolutely nothing like what those social media networks have said, and the public should not be deceived,” a museum official said on Tuesday.