Experts call for diplomatic solution to mummified Buddha dispute   

荷兰专家谈肉身坐佛归属之争：最好外交途径解决

正在匈牙利展出的肉身坐佛疑为“章公六全祖师”的消息传出后，专家们发表了意见，认为，如果中国福建村民拿出法律认可的证据，依照“人类遗骨遗骸应归还原属国”的原则，中方有望追回佛像。不过，民事官司打起来费钱又耗时，最好由政府出面，通过外交途径解决。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- Chinese and Dutch experts are calling on their respective governments to resolve an ownership dispute over a 1,000-year-old Buddhist statue containing a mummified Buddha, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Buddhist statue, dating from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), may have been stolen from a Chinese ancestral temple in a local village, the report stated, citing China's Fujian administration of cultural heritage. However, Drents Museum in the Netherlands said the statue had been legally bought by an anonymous private collector in 1996, who then loaned it to the museum for research purposes a few years ago.

Read more: Mummified Buddha shown in Hungarian stolen from China：gov't

Cultural heritage protection and legal experts from both countries said there were no international conventions on cultural heritage retrieval that would apply to this case, but suggested the Chinese and Dutch governments carry out consultations and seek a diplomatic solution. This would be more pragmatic and convenient than carrying out civil lawsuits, according to Xinhua.

The statue has been removed from the Mummy World Exhibition at the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest and sent back to the Netherlands at the request of Drents Museum, the Hungarian museum announced on its website last Friday.

Drents Museum has made no comment, though Xinhua reported an anonymous source from the museum saying that repatriation is possible if credible evidence is provided, under the common principle that historic human remains should be returned to their home. The legal process could be lengthy, however.