Further to Ling’s post below is the news that the auction went off without a hitch (actually that’s an understatement: it pulled in $260 milllion) after a judge threw out the appeal to stop the sale of the heads. Pierre Berge, Saint-Laurent’s former partner who is conducting the sale seems like a scrappy fellow. Here’s exactly what he had to say about returning the heads to China:
“I am prepared to offer this bronze head to the Chinese straight away. All they have to do is to declare they are going to apply human rights, give the Tibetans back their freedom and agree to accept the Dalai Lama on their territory.
“If they do that, I would be very happy to go myself and bring these two Chinese heads to put them in the Summer Palace in Beijing. It’s obviously blackmail but I accept that.”
Another reason for Sino-French relations to get even chillier.