China has successfully retrieved more than 40,000 chemical
weapons buried or discarded by the Japanese Imperial Army at the
end of the Second World War, according to the Chinese People's
Liberation Army Headquarters of General Staff (PLAHGS).
"China has been nicknamed the world's largest chemical weapons
dump," Shi Jianhua, an official with the institute of chemical
defense under PLAHGS, said.
Scores of chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese troops have
been found in dozens of Chinese provinces, Shi said. However, the
exact number and location of these weapons are not available due to
insufficient data.
"To date, most of the abandoned weapons have been discovered by
accident," he said.
After Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces in 1945, its troops
surreptitiously dumped and buried large quantities of chemical
weapons in China.
Official statistics show that more than 2,000 Chinese have
suffered some form of injury, usually as a result of digging the
weapons up by accident.
In August 2003, a toxic leak killed one man and injured 43
others after five canisters of mustard gas were unearthed at a
construction site in Qiqihar in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
In December 2003, the Japanese government paid 300 million yen
(US$2.75 million) in compensation, part of the funds going towards
clearing the area of the weapons, and the other to the families of
the victims.
According to a 1997 international treaty banning chemical
weapons, Japan is required to dispose of those that remain
buried.
In 1999, Japan promised to provide funding, technology,
manpower, facilities or other assets needed to scrap the
weapons.
China and Japan are working together to build disposal
facilities.
(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2005)