There’s recently been a noticeable increase in discussions on China’s diplomatic Twitter accounts in Africa and in official media about the return of antiquities stolen during the colonial era. This has long been a point of contention between African countries and European museums, who continue to hold on to thousands of artifacts. The museums claim they’re reluctant to return the items until there are proper venues to store them.

China, interestingly, tried to address that problem back in 2018 when it built the Museum of Black Civilization in Dakar. But even so, very few artifacts have been returned.