China, Japan Seek Extension for CW Weapons Disposal

Beijing and Tokyo next week plan to request a five-year extension for disposing of chemical weapons abandoned in China during World War II by the retreating Japanese army, Kyodo News reported yesterday (see GSN, March 21).

Between 300,000 and 400,000 munitions remain in Dunhua, Jilin Province. They cannot all be found and eliminated by the present 2007 deadline set by the Chemical Weapons Convention, according to Japanese government sources.

China and Japan are expected to ask the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the treaty monitoring agency, for an extension allowed under the pact to spring 2012, Kyodo reported.

Roughly 40,000 shells have been processed since the disposal effort began in 2000. Japan has yet to receive permission from China to build disposal facilities in the area, which is slowing the effort, Kyodo reported (Kyodo News/Yahoo!News, April 16).

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