UPDATED:
08:02,
July 06, 2006
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Thirty-one Japanese bombs, with seven confirmed
to be chemical weapons, were recovered on Wednesday in Ning'an City,
northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. 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. Source:
Xinhua |