China's cultural heritage authority has opposed the auction this month of two Chinese relics looted from the Beijing Imperial Summer Palace almost 150 years ago.

The two artefacts, a Qing Dynasty bronze rabbit head and a bronze rat head, will be auctioned by Christie's in Paris from Feb. 23 to 25 and are expected to fetch between 10 and 13 million dollars each.

The two sculptures were originally housed in Yuanmingyuan, Beijing's Imperial Summer Palace. They were stolen when the palace was burnt down by Anglo-French allied forces during the Second Opium War in 1860.

They currently belong to the Pierre Berge-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation and were put up for auction by Pierre Berge.
Zhang Jianxin, deputy director of the museum department with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, says the Christie's auction is unacceptable and China should not be asked to buy them back.

"For the stolen relics, China definitely opposes purchasing them back by spending taxpayer money."

The official also warned business people might exploit the patriotic concerns of the Chinese to raise bidding prices for their own gain.

In the meantime , a team of 81 Chinese lawyers has written to Christie's and Pierre Berge in an effort to stop the sale and return the relics to China.

The lawyers plan to sue Pierre Berge if there is no "positive feedback within a reasonable period".

China and France signed the 1995 Unidroit Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects, which stipulated that any cultural object looted or lost because of reasons of war should be returned without any limitation on time span.