Thursday, January 3, 2008

Chinesepod - Seven Japanese chemical weapons unearthed in NE China

CHINA / Regional

Seven Japanese chemical weapons unearthed in NE China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-06 09:12

Thirty-one Japanese bombs, with seven confirmed to be chemical weapons,
were recovered on Wednesday in Ning'an City, northeast China's
Heilongjiang Province.

Huang Shunxiang, digs out a bomb at an excavation site of World War Two
chemical weapons abandoned by Japan, in Ning'an, China's Heilongjiang
province, July 5, 2006. The joint Chinese-Japanese team was preparing
Wednesday to excavate abandoned Japanese poison gas bombs from World War
II that were buried near a school after a factory received them as scrap
metal. [Reuters]

Experts from Japan and China began on Wednesday excavating a pit at the
Ning'an Chemical and Light Industry Company where they expected to
recover more than 200 bombs that were abandoned by Japanese troops at the
end of World War II.

Wang Xuefeng, a Chinese official on the recovery team, estimated 100 of
the bombs might be armed with deadly chemicals.

Over the course of eight days of excavation, 20 Japanese experts,
assisted by their Chinese counterparts, will confirm the status of the
weapons and pack them for safe keeping.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Japan abandoned at least 2 million tons
of chemical weapons in China. More than 2,000 Chinese people have been
killed by abandoned chemical weapons since the war ended in 1945.

Liu Yiren, who heads an office in charge of abandoned weapons at the
Chinese Foreign Ministry, said China has so far retrieved and disposed of
nearly 40,000 chemical weapons. "However, it is only the tip of an
iceberg," he said.

A lack of information from Japan about where they abandoned or buried
their weapons has made it difficult to track and account for them.

The two countries have conducted more than 60 courses on the safe
recovery of the weapons, said Liu.

While the experts have packed the weapons to make them safe, Liu said,
none of them have been destroyed as they are extremely dangerous and a
safe disposal plant will soon be built.

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