The Chinese and Japanese are making progress in destroying the stockpile of chemical weapons abandoned by the Imperial Japanese Army in China at the end of World War II, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Monday (September 19th). .
Some 90,000 abandoned chemical weapons have been declared on Chinese territory, in more than 90 locations, the OPCW, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said.
"
Of the nearly 90,000 chemical weapons abandoned in China, 60,170 had been destroyed by June 2022
," according to briefings from Chinese and Japanese officials, the organization said in a statement.
Rare example of cooperation
Cooperation between China and Japan "
also testifies to the effectiveness and success of the Convention
", hailed Ambassador Ziad MD Al Atiyah, Chairman of the OPCW Executive Council and Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to organisation.
A chemical weapons destruction plant, built by Japan in Haerbaling, began in 2014 to neutralize the largest stockpile of ammunition abandoned by the Imperial Japanese Army at the end of World War II.
The destruction facilities operate with both Chinese and Japanese manpower, in a rare example of cooperation between the two countries over the sensitive issue of Tokyo's responsibilities for its role in the last war.
Read alsoChemical weapons, rape: series of accusations against the Russian army in Mariupol
China and Japan signed the United Nations Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 1997. Two years later, the two countries signed a memorandum in which Japan pledged to provide the funds, equipment and the personnel necessary for the excavation and destruction of all abandoned chemical weapons.
The term has been postponed several times.
Chemical weapons abandoned by Japan had been listed on dozens of sites in China, which poses a real danger for the safety of the population and for the environment.
Japan had carried out, in cooperation with China and in accordance with the provisions of the OPCW, excavation and recovery operations for abandoned chemical weapons.
Once recovered, these weapons were often stored in temporary warehouses in China.