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Japan to Build 12 CW Disposal Sites in China
Japan has pledged to build 12 chemical weapons disposal facilities in China to speed the elimination of munitions abandoned in the waning days of World War II, the London Guardian reported today (see GSN, Aug. 23, 2004). Relations between the two nations have been strained recently due to Chinese perceptions that Japan has refused to acknowledge atrocities committed during the war. “If Japan takes on the dismantling work using its technology and financial resources, relations with China will no doubt improve,” a Japanese official said. About 700,000 Japanese chemical weapons are believed to have been left in China following the war. Of these, about 37,000 have been eliminated. China says more than 2,000 people have been killed by weapons containing agents such as mustard gas and phosgene, the Guardian reported. Weapons would be decommissioned in Beijing, Harbin and 10 other locations and destroyed at a facility near the North Korean border, where most of the weapons are reportedly buried. Work is expected to begin in three years (Justin McCurry, The Guardian, May 16).
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