With cases involving artefacts with dubious provenance, every case is different & has to be handled differently. In this instance though it seems as though there may well not be a case at all. People do have to acept that like it or not, some artefacts have been acquired legitimately (or in this case, with no evidence to suggest otherwise). In many ways, people demanding that every artefact is returned to its country of origin merely serves to weaken the stronger more valid cases, along with spreading panic amongst museum directors.

Notwithstanding the above though – if auction houses always acted entirely reputably, then perhaps people wouldn’t be so quick to assume that they weren’t.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Chinese anger at sale of Qing Dynasty seal
China has reacted angrily to the sale of an 18th century Qing Dynasty seal by Sotheby’s in London.
By Peter Foster in Beijing
Published: 9:31PM GMT 06 Nov 2009

The green jade seal, belonging to the emperor Qian Long (1736-1795) fetched £3.6 million, six times its estimate, at the auction on Wednesday following frantic bidding by eight competing collectors.

News of the sale was greeted with anger on the Chinese internet, where the country’s growing nationalism frequently finds its voice.
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