As this historical conference comes to a close, there are still some unanswered questions. In the UNESCO committee, the topic of Historical Monuments has given way to many old debates resurfacing. Particularly, the fact that many historical colonial powers still possess a significant amount of cultural artifacts from countries that were previously colonized. In the case of the People’s Republic of China, France stole thousands of artifacts during the Second Opium War in 1860. It is important to address the power that old colonial countries still have in our modern world, as this continues to heavily influence global politics. Although China has been able to recover from the many attempts of European countries’ invasions, some other places have not. For example, India was projected to be one of the most developed Asian countries pre-British invasion, however, it now experiences some of the highest rates of unsanitary water, poverty, homelessness, and uneducated individuals. This is not because India lacks the skills to fix these things, it is because they were not given support to recover from colonialism, and have been essentially left on their own since the British left.
Because of this, China is working to get its artifacts back and is supporting other countries that have been stolen from to regain theirs as well. As the Chinese delegate so eloquently put it, “When you are stealing from a country, you are not only stealing material items. You are stealing their culture”. With this message in mind, China will continue to call out all countries that have stolen from us and others as well.