The director of Beijing's Palace Museum will pay a reciprocal call to Taiwan next month, Taipei's National Palace Museum (NPM) said yesterday.

Zheng Xinmiao will come to Taiwan March 1 for a four-day visit, and his itinerary is now being arranged, NPM deputy director Fung Ming chu said.

An NPM official said that a delegation led by NPM Director Chou Kung-shin received VIP treatment during a recent “ice-breaking” visit of Beijing's Palace Museum, visiting sites that are off limits to the average visitor.

“The NPM is now arranging to give the same preferential treatment to Zheng and is even considering opening up the vaults that store valuable treasures to him,” the official added.

The official said that Chou reached a nine-point consensus on closer cooperation and exchanges during her recent visit in China, making breakthroughs without touching on the sensitive issues of name and governing laws.

The cooperative ventures agreed to include long-term and short-term exchanges of personnel for up to one year. Researchers from Beijing's Palace Museum will also be able to come to Taiwan for special research projects starting in 2010.

The official said there were also breakthroughs on exhibition exchanges and cooperation.

He said that while an October exhibition in Taipei on Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty could not be sponsored by the two museums due to name and regulation problems, Beijing still promised to lend 29 artifacts to Taiwan, including a set of 13 portraits of the long-serving ruler.

The official also said that there will be links between the two museums on the Internet, but issues involving names and regulations will be left for higher-level officials to deal with.