The Hindu : International / Globescan : Japan to clear old chemical weapons

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 17, 2005

International

International - Globescan

Japan to clear old chemical weapons

TOKYO: Japan hopes to remove a big source of friction with China by speeding up the disposal of tens of thousands of chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese forces at the end of the Second World War. Tokyo will build a dozen disposal plants in China and begin processing leftover weapons in three years, said the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. The decision to quickly complete the work, started in 1997, comes after a sharp deterioration in relations amid Chinese claims that Japan has refused to acknowledge the brutal nature of its occupation. The approval by Japanese education authorities of a history textbook that plays down such incidents as the Rape of Nanking, has sent bilateral relations to their lowest point in more than 30 years. The countries are also at odds over territorial claims and exploitation of East China Sea gas fields, and Beijing opposes Tokyo's bid for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat. At talks in Beijing at the weekend, officials failed to agree on a Chinese offer to compensate for damage done to Japanese diplomatic properties in China in last month's protests. But Shotaro Yachi, the Japanese deputy foreign minister, is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart, Dai Bingguo, again next month. Retreating wartime Japanese forces are believed to have left about 700,000 chemical weapons in China, only about 37,000 of which have been dismantled.They include mustard gas and phosgene, which attacks the respiratory system. Experts say they may have corroded and leaked dangerous chemicals. —

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News Update

Stories in this Section

$2.2 billion pledged for Sri Lanka reconstruction

China, Pakistan for consensus on U.N.

Blasts revive concern over Myanmar situation

Row over future of smallpox virus

Bird flu plucks heart from rural life

Madonna causes a flutter in Israeli Cabinet

Counting under way in Ethiopia

32 die in Bangladesh ferry disaster

Japan to clear old chemical weapons

`A long-standing demand fulfilled'