BEIJING — China has launched a one-year campaign to crack down on crimes involving cultural relics.

The campaign, jointly initiated by the Ministry of Public Security and the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA), will target the theft of stone carvings from grottoes and temples, illegal excavation of ancient cultural sites and tombs and theft of ancient pagodas.

Crimes against important cultural relics institutions and national precious relics will also be targeted.

Du Hangwei, vice public security minister, said at a video conference on Aug 31 that the operation will crack down on the whole chain of such crimes, including theft, transportation, selling, collecting and smuggling of stolen cultural relics.

Warning against the grim security situation of cultural relics at present, Liu Yuzhu, director of the NCHA, said it will be a long-term task to crack down on and prevent crimes involving cultural relics, urging cultural relics agencies to cooperate with the police in the campaign.

The two departments have carried out special operations against crimes involving cultural relics for three consecutive years since 2017.

During the operations, more than 3,480 related criminal cases had been solved, with over 5,860 suspects captured and more than 40,000 pieces of cultural relics seized.