Taipei  - Taiwan on Tuesday said it is willing to allow the National Palace Museum (NPM) to hold an exhibition in Japan, but it must guarantee that the rare Chinese treasures are not seized by China.

Chen Tiao-ho, a Foreign Ministry official in charge of Japanese affairs, said that "various sectors of Japan" hope the museum can exhibit in Japan.

"A Japanese parliamentary delegation expressed the same wish when it called on President Ma Ying-jeou last Tuesday," he told a news conference.

"We are happy to see the NPM hold an exhibition in Japan because it can promote culture exchange. But for the safety of the relics, we have asked Japan to first enact laws or amend existing law to guarantee the exhibits' safe return to Taiwan," he added.

When the Chinese Nationalist government lost the civil war to the Communists in 1949, it shipped 650,000 of the best artifacts from the Palace Museum in Beijing and a museum in Nanjing to Taipei.

Since then, the pieces have been preserved and displayed at the museum, one of Taipei's prime tourist attractions.

China regards Taiwan as its breakaway province and regards the artifacts as stolen. But Taipei claims itself to be a sovereign government and claims the historical treasures.

The museum has been cautious about exhibiting any of it overseas because most countries have diplomatic ties with China, and could bend to demands from Beijing to impound the relics. (dpa)