Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism confirms stopping auction of Vietnamese royal titles in China

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr. Hoang Dao Cuong confirmed that the Ministry has sent an official dispatch to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting coordination in reviewing and resolving the issue of royal decrees of Vietnamese origin being auctioned in China. Accordingly, the auction will be stopped.

Official dispatch of the MinistryCulture, Sports and TourismAccording to the information posted on the website of the auction company "Shanghai Yangming limited auction", in the system of auctioned artifacts expected to be auctioned on April 22, 2023, there is information about 12 royal decrees, including 3 royal decrees that are likely to originate from the Quoc Te temple relic, in Di Nau commune, Tam Nong district, Phu Tho province and 09 royal decrees from 4 localities: Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Ha Nam, Hai Duong.

At the same time, there are still many artifacts and royal decrees in the list of artifacts posted for auction (including 8 unsold royal decrees from provinces such as Ha Nam, Nam Dinh...) that are likely to have Vietnamese origins, related to relics and related locations in different localities of Vietnam.

SetCulture, Sports and TourismRequest the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate and support the direction of the Vietnamese Embassy in China to promptly work with the "Shanghai Yangming Limited Auction Company" to verify information related to the auction of royal decrees as announced by the Auction Company; verify information about the Vietnamese origin of the royal decrees in the list expected to be auctioned by the Auction Company.

At the same time, it is recommended that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs take the lead in working with UNESCO and relevant organizations and agencies of China through diplomatic negotiations to implement the commitments of member countries participating in the 1970 UNESCO Convention to be able to repatriate conferred artifacts originating from Vietnam that were illegally imported into China.

Implementing the direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after learning information from the MinistryCulture, Sports and Tourismand the People's Committee of Phu Tho province, the Consulate General of Vietnam in Shanghai worked with relevant authorities of Shanghai city to request to stop the auction and provide information about the royal decrees.

On April 19, 2023, the representative of the Shanghai Culture and Tourism Bureau announced that they had requested to suspend the auction and were ready to coordinate with Vietnamese authorities to verify the information.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to direct Vietnamese representative agencies in China to closely coordinate with the Ministry.Culture, Sports and Tourismand relevant agencies and localities to closely monitor the case and take support measures when necessary.

Currently, on the website of the auction company "Shanghai Yangming Auction Limited" there is no longer any auction information for the above artifacts.

According to VTC