China appreciates Australia's effort to return precious cultural relics: spokesperson

(ECNS) -- China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning expressed appreciation for Australia's efforts to return the nation's valuable cultural relics at a press conference on Wednesday.

It marks another successful practice in cultural heritage protection and recovery and return of lost cultural relics cooperation between our two countries, and sets a fine example of China-Australia people-to-people exchanges, Mao said.

China and Australia signed the MOU on cultural relics protection in 2009. Since then, Australia returned one piece to China in 2015 and this time another four lost cultural relics as well as one ancient fossil, the spokesperson said.