Japanese chemical weapons abandoned in China to be destroyed

BEIJING: China and Japan will destroy over 3 lakh pieces of chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese forces in northeast China at the end of World War II.

The trial destruction will take place tomorrow in the Harbaling area of China's Jilin Province, where the largest amount of weapons are buried, an estimated 330,000 pieces, Chinese Foreign Ministry said today.

This marks a new stage in disposal of the weapons which will be decisive for the destruction of all of them, it said.

Japan had abandoned at least two million tonnes of chemical weapons at about 40 sites in 15 Chinese provinces at the end of World War II, most of them in the three northeast provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.

Abandoning these weapons was one of the several crimes during Japan's invasion of China.

Though the war has been over for decades, the weapons still pose huge threats to Chinese people, property and environment, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

In accordance with the Convention on the Banning of Chemical Weapons and the memorandum on the destruction of abandoned chemical weapons signed by China and Japan in 1999, Japan will offer all necessary funds, technology, expertise, facilities while China will provide assistance.

"China will continue to urge Japan to speed up the destruction process on the precondition of ensuring personnel and environmental safety," the Ministry said.