Japan begins destroying WWII weapons in China

Japan began to destroy chemical weapons left over in China from its brutal World War II invasion, a move mandated by its international treaty obligations, state press said.

Hideo Hiraoka, vice minister of Japan’s cabinet office, announced the beginning of the disposal of thousands of left-over weapons at a ceremony in east China’s Nanjing city, Xinhua news agency said.

“Today’s move marks a new phase in the disposal of abandoned chemical weapons in China, in which the work has shifted from excavation and recovery to destruction,” the report quoted Mr Hiraoka as saying.

“This is the result of years of efforts made by Japanese and Chinese authorities, and will have far-reaching effects on the bilateral relationship.” Japan is responsible for the destruction of the weapons, as a signatory to the UN Chemical Weapons Convention, the report said.

Tokyo and Beijing have agreed that up to 400,000 chemical wea­pons, left in China as Japan surrendered and withdrew, remain in the country although the figure has long been the subject of debate.

Most of the weapons were located in northeast China, but caches of chemical bombs have been found in numerous places occupied by Japanese armies, Japanese diplomats in Beijing said.

Over 2,000 Chinese citizens have been injured or killed by leftover Japanese chemical munitions since the end of the war, Xinhua said earlier.