THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Nov. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- A top Chinese government official Monday urged Japan to destroy all chemical weapons abandoned in China during World War II.

    Addressing a meeting of the Chemical Weapons Convention here, Chinese Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Xue Hanqin, said the abandoned weapons have been posing a great threat to the environment and the life and property of the Chinese people.

    "These abandoned chemical weapons in China have caused casualties time and again, which clearly illustrates the danger of this issue and the urgency for a settlement," Xue said.

    Although some progress has been made in recent years, the substantive destruction of the weapons has yet to start, she said.

    Xue urged the Japanese government to "work harder and initiate as soon as possible" the destruction process.

    A study carried out by China's Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences published in June this year concluded that Japanese troops abandoned over two million chemical weapons in a dozen Chinese cities and provinces at the end of World War II.

    So far, said the study, some 2,000 Chinese have fallen victims to the weapons since the war ended in 1945.

    The Chinese representative also stressed the importance of upholding the Convention, urging all signatories to implement its aims in a more effective way.

    "Completing the destruction of chemical weapons and relevant facilities at an early date is one of the core objectives set by the Convention. It is also an important means of preventing proliferation of chemical weapons and acts of chemical terrorism,"Xue added.

    She said China firmly opposes the proliferation of all weapons of mass destruction including chemical weapons.

    All 167 members of the Chemical Weapons Convention meet each year to review the implementation of the Convention. Enditem