China will get back stolen and illegally exported Chinese cultural relics by any means necessary in accordance with international practices and the country's laws, an official with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) said Thursday, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Zhang Jianhua from SACH's policy department said while attending a conference on protecting cultural relics in Cairo that China would make new rules to better protect its cultural relics as well as cooperate with other countries in getting back each other's relics.

Zhang said China has joined the Unidroit Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects to prevent illegal dealings in cultural relics. But the convention does not cover objects stolen, looted or acquired illegally before it took effect.

The Chinese government supports returning lost cultural relics to where they belong and objects to the sale of stolen, looted or illegally acquired Chinese relics, Zhang said.