Chinese and Japanese working teams have recently completed
sealing up 724 pieces of chemical weapons along with five barrels
of mustard gas that had killed one person and injured 43 others
after workers began excavating a construction site on August 4. The
weapons were left by Japanese troops at the end of the World War II
(WWII) in Qiqihar City of Heilongjiang Province, northeast China.
The Shanghai-based Oriental Outlook magazine interviewed
the head of the Japanese working team, here referred to as "S".
Japan left behind a large number of bombs with chemical warheads
in China at the end of the World War II (WWII) and is now helping
China with the cleanup. But in August, drums of mustard gas
ruptured at a construction site in Qiqihar, northeast China, killed
one and damaged the health of 43 others.
Responding to the Qiqihar poison incident, the Japanese
government dispatched a working team for chemical weapons disposal
headed by a counselor from the office for the disposal of abandoned
chemical weapons under the Japanese Cabinet early last month to
help handle the chemical weapons stored in a warehouse in the
city.
It was reported that UN officials joined the Chinese and
Japanese personnel to monitor operations at the scene.
Here follows an interview between a correspondent from
Shanghai-based Oriental Outlook magazine and a Japanese
government official, the first interview conducted on the issue of
Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in China between the Chinese
media and a Japan official representative.
Oriental Outlook: What progress has been made
in the disposal of chemical weapons left over in China by Japanese
troops?
S: As everybody knows, our work of destroying
Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in China is being carried out
under international and Japan-Chinese bilateral instruments,
namely, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC, 1997) and the
Memorandum on the Destruction of Japanese Discarded Chemical
Weapons in China signed on July 30, 1999 between the governments of
the People's Republic of China and Japan.
To promote the work of destroying Japanese-abandoned chemical
weapons in China, the Japanese government established an office
exclusively for the disposal of Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons
in China in the Cabinet directly under the jurisdiction of the
prime minister. In addition, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and its Defense Agency also assigned coordinating personnel
for the issue of Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons. The Chinese
government also set up a special office for the issue under the
Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the
counterpart of the Japanese office.
The foreign ministries of both countries annually convene a
Japanese-Chinese joint working group meeting, which decides major
jobs of the year. Because the disposal of Japanese-abandoned
chemical weapons in China is an unprecedented undertaking in
history, it was not until one and a half years after the
establishment of the special Japanese office that we began our
investigations with the assistance of China. And more substantial
work started in September 2000 when we embarked on the mass
excavation of chemical bombs dumped in Bei'an City, Heilongjiang
Province.
From then on we carried out a series of excavations on a pretty
large scale in different parts of China, such as Nanjing, Songwu
County of Heihe City in Heilongjiang Province and Luquan City in
Hebei Province, just to name a few of them.
A total of 36,000 chemical weapons including bombs, poisonous
fume pipes and iron barrels containing chemical preparations have
been retrieved and put under temporary safekeeping. To be specific,
the weapons were first dug up from the soil and then, as some of
them had aged, rusted or been leaking chemical reparations, and
some others had explosive attachments or engines with them, they
were washed, detoxified of outer covering or had their engines
removed. Following safety treatment they were examined with X-rays
to see whether they were left over by Japanese troops or not. The
identified Japanese chemical weapons were to be sealed up and
placed in temporary storage.
The retrieval I just mentioned refers to the whole process from
safety treatment through to storage.
Oriental Outlook: How many Japanese-abandoned
chemical weapons did the Japanese government retrieve and dispose
of in the past number of years?
S: 360,000. Actually, the retrieved chemical
weapons haven't yet been destroyed because decisions haven't been
made on what technologies should be adopted for their destruction.
What we have done are preparations for detoxification. The Japanese
and Chinese sides meet monthly to discuss how to dispose of these
chemical weapons and what environmental standards should be
complied with.
Why does the conferring between Japan and China take so much
time? It's because the work has no precedent in human history. So
many chemical weapons were dumped in the soil for such a long time.
Nothing similar has happened in any other countries in the world.
If there were precedents we could acquire some experience.
Furthermore, the components of Japanese chemical weapons are
different from those of American and Russian ones. In view of this,
pioneering work has to be done in the research of technologies for
destruction.
What have been done include: cremation has been decided as the
approach to destroy "red bombs" and "yellow bombs," which account
for the major part of Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in China
and meanwhile both parties are studying what technologies should be
used for the destruction of other abandoned chemical weapons;
moreover, both parties have agreed to build a center for the
destruction of the retrieved chemical weapons in the area of
Ha'erba Ridge in Dunhua City, Jilin Province. Strictly speaking,
the area is not mountainous but hilly. Some 670,000 chemical
weapons were dumped in the area, which is the place with the most
Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in China. Up to now both
parties have been talking over what equipment should be used for
excavation and storage of the chemical weapons in the area and a
rough consensus has been reached on the issue.
The State Environmental Protection Administration of China, with
help from Japan, is now working on environmental standards for the
destruction of Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in China.
Oriental Outlook: Opinions vary on the exact
number of Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in China. Chinese
scholars say there are at least 2 million pieces, whereas Japan
says the number should be about 700,000. How do you view the
disagreement?
S: Now Japan believes that the number of the
abandoned Japanese chemical weapons is about 700,000. The result of
investigations in the Ha'erba Ridge area tells that 670,000
chemical weapons were dumped there. And we, in light of various
information offered by China, made a summing-up that another 30,000
chemical weapons were dumped in other places in China.
The number of the chemical weapons dumped in the Ha'erba Ridge
area, 670,000, was worked out in 1996. We first used metal detector
to detect the gross volume of the dumped chemical weapons and after
that we did trial excavations, which gave the number per unit
volume of them. The figure of 670,000 was obtained by multiplying
the number per unit volume and the gross volume together.?
Japan also knows that China, according to historical records,
acknowledges the number of Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in
China to be 2 million. I wouldn't comment on the figure and I've
never spoken about its trustworthiness. The exact figure cannot be
obtained until real field excavations are done. To avoid
misunderstandings I need to make it clear that no matter what the
number is, 700,000 or 2 million or a figure in between, Japan will
take the responsibility to destroy the last chemical weapon
identified as abandoned by Japanese troops.
Oriental Outlook: Can you complete your mission
by the year 2007? If you cannot, will you apply for extending the
time limit?
S: Now we are working in earnest for the
complete destruction of Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in
China by 2007 as specified in the Chemical Weapons Convention and
the Memorandum on the Destruction of Japanese Discarded Chemical
Weapons in China. As for the issue of a delay, we think now it's
too early to consider it because we are making sincere efforts.
Previous excavations and retrievals were basically done by
humans. Considering that there are as many as 670,000 chemical
bombs in the Ha'erba Ridge area, we are thinking of using automatic
excavators to do excavations because manual operations will take a
longer time. We are now developing those machines.
Oriental Outlook: Are you certain of finishing
the job by 2007?
S: We hope so. And we know we don't have much
time left before 2007.
Oriental Outlook: What plans has the Japanese
government got for chemical weapons disposal in the near future?
How much money will it budget for the disposal program?
S: To be brief, we'll first prepare facilities
for the early excavation and retrieval of 670,000 chemical weapons
in the Ha'erba Ridge area. In the meantime, we'll build the
destruction center. The center will experience a trial operation
before mass destruction operations.
Now it's hard to estimate the budget but it must be enormous. By
the way, we have applied 21.1 billion yen (US$192.395 million) for
the next accounting year from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004 and
the total budget for the past five years was 60 billion yen
(US$547.096 million).
We have become deeply conscious that it costs much more time and
money to destroy them than to have produced them.
Oriental Outlook: When will the destruction
center begin to be built?
S: Research hasn't finished on some technology
to be adopted at the center and the design will begin as soon as
the research is finished. I've said that as we will dispose of an
unprecedented number of chemical weapons in world history we are
doing relative experiments for the sake of the safety of both
personnel and the environment.
Oriental Outlook: Now the Chinese people are
very dissatisfied with the apparent tardy manner of Japan in
disposing of its chemical weapons. What do you think about
this?
S: Just now I said the disposal of
Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in China is an unprecedented
job in history and work can only be set after full consideration
has been taken of the affects on the safety of personnel as well as
the environment. For these reasons the Japanese and Chinese sides
have always explored their way carefully. I cannot deny what we've
already done. And we still need some time. The Japanese side knows
this very well.
It can well be imagined what kind of feelings the Chinese people
harbor toward the issue of Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in
China following the August 4 poisoning incident in Qiqihar this
summer. To prevent a recurrence of such an accident in the future
we need to quicken our pace.
Oriental Outlook: So far the Japanese
government hasn't yet disclosed the detailed conditions of the
Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in China and this is one reason
for the occurrence of the August 4 poisoning accident in
Qiqihar.
S: Japan would be very pleased to offer
relative information to China if it had it. But such information is
not available just now. All of the several previous information
gatherings failed. Now we have to depend on the Chinese government
to provide information to us for the disposal of the chemical
weapons.
Oriental Outlook: The Japanese troops invading
China in WWII should be very clear about the locations of the
stashes of their abandoned chemical weapons upon their retreat in
defeat from China at the end of the WWII.
S: Everything was in chaos in WWII. I'm afraid
there was no data arranged at that time and even if, would have
been lost by now.
Oriental Outlook: I'd like to ask again: can it
be reported that the Japanese side pledges to complete its mission
of destroying chemical weapons it abandoned in China by 2007?
S: Please say it this way: The Japanese side is
making conscientious efforts to accomplish its mission by 2007.
(China.org.cn by Chen Chao and Daragh Moller, December 4,
2003)