China is seeking the return of a 1,300-year-old Chinese stone from Japan's Imperial Palace, positioning itself as a global pioneer in repatriating lost cultural artefacts. This move could mark a 'historical reckoning' over wartime plunder.

As one of the biggest targets of wartime looting in centuries past, China is now positioning itself as a global pioneer in repatriating lost cultural artefacts. This article, the first in a two-part series, Xinlu Liang looks at whether a stolen 1,300-year-old Chinese stone now housed in Japan’s Imperial Palace can become a test case for a reckoning over wartime plunder. In 1945, following Japan’s surrender to the Allies, supreme commander General Douglas MacArthur ordered the country to return.....