Tokyo: Taiwan has opened the Taipei Cultural Centre at its representative office in Tokyo with the aim of promoting cultural exchanges, including a plan to exhibit artwork from the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
Tokyo and Taipei have agreed to hold a National Palace exhibition in Japan at an early date but Taipei is concerned that China could seek to seize exhibits in the absence of a law in Japan to guarantee protection of artefacts and artwork on loan from overseas museums, according to sources.
At the ceremony to inaugurate the centre yesterday, Takeo Hiranuma, chairman of a Japan-Taiwan bipartisan lawmakers` conference and leader of the Sunrise Party of Japan, unveiled his plan to introduce legislation next month to ensure arrangements for loaning artwork from overseas.
The centre at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Tokyo`s Minato Ward is the first in Asia and follows those in New York and Paris.
The representative office serves as the de facto embassy for Taiwan, which does not have diplomatic relations with Japan.
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou pledged in the 2008 Presidential Election to open the canter, which is also expected to support Taiwan artists` performances and activities in Japan.
PTI
