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Straits Times
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Citing military threats, Taiwan's Palace Museum says no China cooperation planned
TAIPEI - Taiwan's National Palace Museum, home to one of the world's biggest collections of imperial Chinese treasures, does not plan any joint events with China for its 100th anniversary due to Beijing's military threats, its director said on Wednesday. The museum was re-established in Taiwan in 1965 after the Republic of China government lost a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists and fled to the island in 1949, taking with them thousands of cases of antiques once owned by China's emperors. A competing institution remains in Beijing, the similarly named Palace Museum. Speaking to reporters at the museum in the Taipei foothills, National Palace Museum Director Hsiao Tsung-huang said cooperation with Beijing's museum needed both sides to be willing to work together. "Whether it's fighter jets, navy or civilian ships going up and down the Taiwan Strait, there is no opportunity like there was before for mutual friendliness or cooperation," he said, referring to China's almost daily military activities around Taiwan. "We'd be happy to see it, but at the moment the other side hasn't taken the initiative to talk, and we even more cannot take the initiative to talk to them," Hsiao added. The Palace Museum in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Instead, Taipei's museum will send some of its collection to Prague and Paris this year, with the Qing dynasty Jadeite Cabbage, one its most famous pieces which rarely leaves Taiwan, going on display at the Czech Republic's National Museum. Next month, the National Palace Museum will also host an exhibition of French impressionist and modernist art from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The National Palace Museum holds more than 690,000 items. More than 80% of them are from China's last dynasty, the former Qing court, which was overthrown in 1911. A second branch of the museum opened in the southern county of Chiayi in 2015, and is being expanded to enable the public to see even more of the collection's artefacts. It will have a special focus on some of the museum's rarest pieces which Taiwan terms "national treasures". REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
AsiaOne
07-05-2025
- Politics
- AsiaOne
Citing military threats, Taiwan's Palace Museum says no China cooperation planned, Asia News
TAIPEI-Taiwan's National Palace Museum, home to one of the world's biggest collections of imperial Chinese treasures, does not plan any joint events with China for its 100th anniversary due to Beijing's military threats, its director said on Wednesday (May 7). The museum was re-established in Taiwan in 1965 after the Republic of China government lost a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists and fled to the island in 1949, taking with them thousands of cases of antiques once owned by China's emperors. A competing institution remains in Beijing, the similarly named Palace Museum. Speaking to reporters at the museum in the Taipei foothills, National Palace Museum Director Hsiao Tsung-huang said co-operation with Beijing's museum needed both sides to be willing to work together. "Whether it's fighter jets, navy or civilian ships going up and down the Taiwan Strait, there is no opportunity like there was before for mutual friendliness or co-operation," he said, referring to China's almost daily military activities around Taiwan. "We'd be happy to see it, but at the moment the other side hasn't taken the initiative to talk, and we even more cannot take the initiative to talk to them," Hsiao added. The Palace Museum in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Instead, Taipei's museum will send some of its collection to Prague and Paris this year, with the Qing dynasty Jadeite Cabbage, one its most famous pieces which rarely leaves Taiwan, going on display at the Czech Republic's National Museum. Next month, the National Palace Museum will also host an exhibition of French impressionist and modernist art from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. [[nid:717609]] The National Palace Museum holds more than 690,000 items. More than 80 per cent of them are from China's last dynasty, the former Qing court, which was overthrown in 1911. A second branch of the museum opened in the southern county of Chiayi in 2015, and is being expanded to enable the public to see even more of the collection's artefacts. It will have a special focus on some of the museum's rarest pieces which Taiwan terms "national treasures".
South China Morning Post
03-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
National Palace Museum in Taiwan struggles with tourist numbers amid cross-strait tension
The National Palace Museum in Taipei, home to crown jewels and royal antiques evacuated from mainland China following last century's civil war, is the latest victim of souring ties between Taiwan and Beijing as it faces a significant drop in visitors. Advertisement The museum's director Hsiao Tsung-huang told media in December that for the museum's centenary year in 2025 he had a goal of 3.5 million visitors for both the northern branch in Taipei and the southern branch in Chiayi county 'whether or not cross-strait travel opens up'. During a session with the legislature's education and culture committee on Wednesday, Ko Chih-en a lawmaker from the Kuomintang (KMT) opposition party questioned the target. The museum in Taipei houses some of the most celebrated treasures from the Imperial Palace in Beijing. Photo: Shutterstock Images Ko highlighted visitor figures, which reached 5.29 million when the museum celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2015. In 2016, it welcomed a record high 6.14 million visitors, including 3.32 million from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. According to the Taipei-based China Times, Ko said last year saw a drastic drop in those numbers, with only 50,000 visitors from these three regions, influenced by 'deteriorating cross-strait relations, political factors and changes in tourism policies'. In 2024, the museum recorded only 2.87 million visitors, with the largest overseas group coming from South Korea, followed by Japan. Advertisement In response, Hsiao reaffirmed his commitment to the 3.5 million visitor target, according to the report. Cross-strait relations have been in decline since the independence-leading Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power in 2016, prompting both sides of the strait to impose travel restrictions on the other.
