WWII cleanup OK'd ahead of summit

Yomiuri Shimbun

The government's agreement with China on Sunday to offer the country 300 million yen to settle a dispute over chemical weapons abandoned by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II apparently is aimed at improving relations with Beijing before the Japan-China summit meeting Monday.

Tokyo and Beijing have officially agreed that Japan will pay the amount to dispose of the chemical weapons, left in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province.

The agreement was reached at a time when the two countries are considering resuming reciprocal visits by their leaders that have been halted due to visits by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines war dead and Class-A war criminals.

In the meantime, several issues have sparked Chinese public outrage against Japan. One Chinese was killed and 43 were injured in August, when a group of Chinese workers dug up the chemical weapons left by the Japanese military in Qiqihar, and in September hundreds of Japanese were reported to have been involved in a sex orgy with prostitutes in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

On Oct. 8, Koizumi said he would continue visiting Yasukuni Shrine once a year, which also provoked adverse reactions from China. The Japanese government, therefore, aimed to reach an agreement on the chemical weapons issue prior to Koizumi's meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday.

"The relationship with China would critically deteriorate if the prime minister just said, 'Japan will sincerely try to solve the chemical weapon accident,' but took no action," a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

Koizumi and Hu met in Bangkok on Monday, and touched on the agreement. Koizumi told Hu that the Japanese government will deal with the task of disposing of the weapons, and the Chinese leader asked Japan to speed up the process.

Although Japan first planned to give China 100 million yen for the disposal, it later agreed to pay 300 million yen.

The Japanese government referred to the sum as "fees for operations to dispose of abandoned chemical weapons," and said it would leave it up to the Chinese government to "appropriately distribute" the money to those involved with the issue. Tokyo requested that the Chinese government formally explain to those concerned that the fund is not compensation or a gift for the victims or others.

It made this request for the following reasons:

-- China waived the right to seek compensation from Japan over war damages inflicted in the 1972 Japan-China joint declaration.

-- The Japanese government would rather prevent the recent agreement from affecting court cases involving the chemical weapons, including one in which the Tokyo District Court ordered the government to pay compensation to victims and their families.

But China is expected to give part of the money to victims and their families, as the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Sunday it would use the 300 million yen to "compensate" people for the damages.