Chinese Vice Foreign Minister WangYi Tuesday called in Fumiyo Anamia, Japanese ambassador to China, and lodged solemn representations on the chemical weapons issue.
Wang said the Japanese chemical weapons, which were left in Qiqihar City of Heilongjiang Province, northeast China, after World War II, have seriously injured local citizens and affected their normal lives.
At present, the Chinese side is doing its best to save the people wounded after exposure to the mustard gas leaked from chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese troops and fully cleanse the affected areas.
Wang said Japanese chemical weapons had claimed the lives of many Chinese. The chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese troops in China are irrefutable evidence of Japanese militaristic aggression against China, and they still seriously threaten the lives of Chinese citizens and the local environment.
The Chinese government has always put the life and health of the people first and it will not allow such situation to continue, Wang said.
The Chinese government has noticed that the Japanese side has said it attaches importance to the serious issue and has promised to deal with it properly and with sincerity.
China urges the Japanese government to take immediate action, shoulder its responsibility and deal with problems arising from the issue, he said.
According to an agreement between China and Japan, the Japanese government has formally taken on the responsibility for destroying abandoned chemical weapons in China.
The Chinese side urges the Japanese government to attach great importance to the seriousness and urgency of this issue and implement the Convention on the Banning of Chemical Weapons and the memorandum on the destruction of the chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese troops in China, he said.
The Japanese side should quicken its steps in dealing with the issue in a responsible manner and remove as early as possible the "cancer" that has injured and threatened the security of the Chinese people, Wang said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2003)
