BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese courts will step up the judicial protection of cultural relics and severely punish theft, illegal excavating and resale, damaging, and smuggling of cultural relics, sources with the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Thursday.

The SPC has signed a cooperation agreement with China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage to strengthen judicial protection of cultural relics, the sources said.

Chinese courts will also engage more in global cooperation to recover stolen cultural relics from overseas.