China, Japan Plan Further CW Recovery

Chinese and Japanese officials met today in Tokyo to discuss strategies for further collection of chemical weapons that Japan’s army abandoned during its retreat in China in World War II, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Dec. 15).

Top on the agenda was consideration of plans for excavating and collecting weapons in the Jilin province in northeastern China.  Officials were also expected to address weapons recovery in other parts of the country.

“It is a heinous crime committed by Japanese militants in the past … a major leftover issue of history between the two countries, and a major threat to the life of people in the relevant region,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.  “We hope that Japan can abide by its commitment to solve this issue earnestly and at an early date.”

Japan estimates that its army left behind 700,000 munitions carrying mustard agent and other toxic chemicals in China when its occupation ended in 1945, AP reported.  Nearly half of those are believed to be in the Jilin province.

Abandoned weapons have killed at least 2,000 Chinese citizens since then, according to Beijing.  More than 38,000 weapons have been recovered to date.

Tokyo is also planning to build a weapons disposal facility in Jilin.

Member states to the Chemical Weapons Convention earlier this month extended the deadline for the two countries to recover and eliminate all abandoned weapons to 2012 (see GSN, Dec. 11; Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Dec. 21).

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