Japan Years and Billions of Dollars Away From Completing Destruction of Chemical Weapons in China

Japan is nearly certain to miss an international treaty deadline to destroy the chemical weapons the nation abandoned in China following World War II, Yomiuri Shimbun  reported today (see GSN, April 23).

Japan has already received a one-time, five-year extension to the time limit set by the Chemical Weapons Convention, but it is unlikely to fully recover a huge stockpile buried at one site by the 2012 deadline to completely destroy those weapons, Yomiuri reported.  Between 300,000 and 400,000 munitions are believed to be contained in the cache at Haerbaling.

One former Japanese official blamed the delays on difficulties in negotiating with China.

Japan “couldn’t easily understand where the Chinese government wanted our disposal plant to be built and how it (the government) wanted our environmental measures to be,” the official said.  “It was tough for us to decide even one item in discussions with the Chinese side.”

Also problematical is assessing and funding the cost of the venture.

“I’ve no idea how much money we need,” said a senior official from the Cabinet office responsible for the project.

So far, Japan has spent about $450 million on the project, but the total cost could surpass $9 billion, according one source involved in the effort (Yomiuri Shimbun, April 24).

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