Net users demand Cameron return treasures plundered by Britain

Chinese Net users on Wednesday demanded British Prime Minister David Cameron return priceless artifacts looted from China more than a century ago, as the prime minister was wrapping up his China trip by visiting China's southwestern city of Chengdu.

The British prime minister invited Chinese Net users to ask him questions on his newly-established Sina Weibo account, saying he would reply to some of the questions during the trip.

Cameron's followers had soared to 270,000 by Wednesday evening.

Among the questions, one of the most popular was "When will Britain return the illegally plundered artifacts?" - a question posted by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a Chinese think tank headed by Zeng Peiyan, former Chinese vice premier.

Many other celebrities and Net users have raised the same question.

The think tank referred to 23,000 items of cultural relics in the British Museum, which the organization said had been plundered from China by the British army in the early 20th century.

Jin Canrong, professor of international relations with the Renmin University of China, said Cameron's communicating with Chinese Net users is a public relations practice. He said that Chinese Net users are likely to talk politics, so communicating with them is important both for politics and getting public opinion. One day earlier, Cameron urged for stability in the Asia-Pacific region and acknowledged the stand of the Cairo Declaration, issued 70 years ago after World War II, in a CCTV interview.

"By stressing the importance of adhering to the post-war settlement, Cameron is also presenting his attitude toward heated, controversial issues such as the tensions over China's establishment of its Air Defense Identification Zone," said Wang Anqi, the director of Qiushi Journal's international department.

In Chengdu, Cameron took the tour to the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu, who was a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and tasting Sichuan hotpot, chinanews.com reported.