Japan cleans up weapons legacy

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-12-14  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A JAPANESE commission team started yesterday trying to remove abandoned chemical weapons buried since World War II in the Harbaling area of the northeast Jilin Province.

The number of weapons involved and the extent of excavation needed was not made public.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said commencement of the work marked real progress made by Japan in destroying weapons still threatening people's lives and the environment.

Chinese authorities will supervise the work and provide assistance when necessary, according to the Ministry.

The commission was sent by the Japanese government 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.

According to Chinese statistics, Japanese troops abandoned at least 2 million tons of chemical weapons at about 40 sites in 15 Chinese provinces at the end of World War II, most of them in the northeast provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.