Smithsonian rejects Tang relics bought by Singapore
US museum won't host show after academics protest
By Akshita Nanda
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington has decided against hosting a planned exhibition of 1,200-year-old maritime artefacts bought by Singapore for US$32 million (S$42 million).
The decision came after academics had protested that the treasures discovered off Indonesia's Belitung Island were recovered by a commercial salvager - albeit legally - and sold for profit.
They said that buying and selling recovered artefacts violate the spirit of a 2001 Unesco convention on protecting maritime heritage.
Neither Singapore nor the United States nor Indonesia has subscribed to that convention.
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