EVERY four years, American presidential candidates pledge to get tough and confront China. Populists promise to bring jobs home, if need be by starting trade wars. Security hawks vow to use every form of American might—from sanctions to the Seventh Fleet—to curb Chinese mischief-making. Yet, in the search for a China policy, it is hard to recall a candidate demanding America return looted Cambodian antiques.
Yet inspecting newly returned sculptures—including a splendid tenth-century statue of a monkey god, handed back in 2015 by the Cleveland Museum of Art—is how John Kerry, the secretary of state, began a visit to Cambodia on January 26th, a day before he headed to Beijing. It was a striking scene at the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, as Mr Kerry was shown carvings looted during the civil war of the 1970s, and traced after they were shown to be perfect matches for plinths unearthed in a jungle-clad temple. Addressing the local press a few hours later, Mr Kerry cited the return of stolen treasures as an example of his country’s commitment to Cambodia and other members of the ten-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)....Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1WPLQ0t
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