China urges Japan to speed up addressing abandoned chemical weapons

Japan bears an unavoidable international obligation to fully destroy the chemical weapons it abandoned in China during World War II, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday, which also marked the 29th anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

Spokesperson Lin Jian made the remarks at a regular news briefing while responding to a query noting that under the convention, Japan should have completed the destruction of all chemical weapons left in China by 2007, yet the deadline has been extended several times.

"The chemical weapons abandoned in China by Japan are one of the grave crimes committed by Japanese militarists during its war of aggression against China," Lin said. "To this day, these weapons are still endangering the safety of Chinese people's lives and property, as well as the ecological environment."

He stressed that the removal is not optional but a mandatory international obligation, adding that Beijing has repeatedly called on Tokyo to comply with both the CWC and the memorandum between the governments by promptly finishing the destruction of these weapons.