Abandoned Japanese WWII weapons still pose a threat in China

HARBIN — The latest leak involving abandoned Japanese chemical weapons in Northeast China's Jilin province, which contaminated two Japanese personnel during disposal operations, has renewed concerns about the lingering dangers of wartime chemical weapons still buried in China.

As Saturday marked the 81st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender during World War II, the incident has drawn renewed attention to Unit 516, the invading Japanese army's clandestine chemical warfare unit headquartered in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province, during World War II.

Experts noted that Japan has yet to provide China with critical information regarding Unit 516 and the chemical weapons it abandoned at the end of the war. Some high-risk munitions remain undiscovered, and deterioration of their containers increases the risk of toxic agents seeping into soil and water sources.

At a news briefing on June 4, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning disclosed that on May 26, two Japanese personnel had their arms contaminated with toxic agents during a disposal operation in Jilin when the abandoned Japanese chemical weapons ruptured. The Chinese side immediately provided on-site medical treatment before rushing them to a hospital. After receiving treatment, they returned to Japan on May 29.

However, the incident was not unprecedented. According to China's position paper submitted to the Fifth Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention, abandoned Japanese chemical weapons have caused more than 2,000 casualties in China since the end of WWII.

This year marks the 81st anniversary of the end of WWII and of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The 14-year war was the longest and largest fight against foreign aggression for the Chinese people in modern times. It came with a great cost — 35 million casualties among the Chinese military and civilian population — before Japan ultimately surrendered in 1945.

While scars left by the war have yet to heal fully, dangerous remnants from the war continue to threaten the safety of communities.

Of particular concern is the Japanese military's incorporation of arsenic into its chemical weapons, both to stabilize mustard agents under extremely cold conditions and to enhance their lethality. Arsenic does not naturally break down in the environment. During excavation, investigators have found many shells already corroded or even ruptured. According to experts, ongoing deterioration could allow large amounts of toxic liquid to seep into the ground.

Such contamination could permanently pollute local soil and groundwater, increasing long-term cancer risks and threatening nearby communities for generations.

Heilongjiang has been more severely affected by abandoned Japanese chemical weapons. The city of Qiqihar, where Unit 516 was deployed during the war, is considered the epicenter of the problem.

"Unit 516 was responsible for developing a wide range of chemical warfare agents, including mustard gas, Lewisite and chlorine gas, all of which were used in combat," said Wang Tianjiao with the Qiqihar Museum.

"Qiqihar was used as a major base for Japan's chemical warfare program, so virtually every type of abandoned Japanese chemical weapon could potentially still be found here," Wang added.

The city has seen some of the worst toxic exposures over the years. On Aug 4, 2003, construction workers unearthed five drums containing mustard gas at a building site. The leak resulted in injuries to 44 people. Some victims have since died, while many survivors continue to suffer from severe pain and illnesses.

A long-term follow-up medical study published on the website of the United States' National Center for Biotechnology Information found that severe autonomic failure, such as hyperhidrosis, pollakiuria, diarrhoea, diminished libido, and asthenia, appeared in almost all victims from the incident. Polyneuropathy occurred in 35 percent of the victims and constricted vision in 20 percent of them, among other malfunctions. Many continued to suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression years after exposure.

In the years following the 2003 incident, abandoned Japanese artillery shells were repeatedly discovered at construction sites and disused factories across Qiqihar.

On July 30, 2010, a group of schoolchildren in Qiqihar were found fiddling with three rusted shells, with fuses still attached to two of the shells. The terrifying discovery sent local police into an intense excavation that lasted over eight hours. By the end of the operation, they had recovered 359 artillery shells of various types from a disused factory. The shells were later identified as abandoned by Japanese invaders.

Shortly afterward, another 63 shells were uncovered at a construction site and later identified as abandoned by Japanese troops. Thanks to the prompt response of local police, the danger was neutralized without any casualties.

Wang estimated that Unit 516 abandoned roughly 200,000 chemical munitions at the end of WWII. Some were buried underground, while others were dumped into the Nenjiang River. "Unlike germ warfare weapons, the effectiveness of which diminishes over time, chemical weapons remain highly toxic for a long time," he said.

Japan has continued to withhold information on the locations, quantities and types of these abandoned weapons, as well as details about Unit 516, hampering efforts to recover and destroy them.

Historical records indicate that abandoned chemical weapons are scattered across numerous burial sites in widely varying quantities. Their small size and varying burial depths make them especially difficult to locate.

Under the CWC, Japan was required to complete the destruction of all abandoned chemical weapons in China by the end of 2007. However, the deadline has already been postponed four times.

Furthermore, legal efforts to seek accountability have also met setbacks. On Sept 21, 2012, the Tokyo High Court rejected an appeal by victims of the 2003 Qiqihar chemical leak incident seeking state compensation from the Japanese government.

While acknowledging that the abandoned Japanese chemical weapons had caused the injuries, the ruling denied the Japanese government's liability for inaction, citing the lack of clarity over the locations where the chemical agents had been abandoned and the inability to prevent the incident from occurring.

Twenty-three years after the 2003 incident, many of the original 44 victims have died. Those who remain continue to suffer debilitating long-term health problems.

Hao Yanzhi, whose wife Niu Haiying was among the victims, said his wife's immune system has steadily weakened over the years. The youngest victim of the incident dropped out of school at an early age and has endured chronic pain and poor immunity for more than two decades.

Many survivors say they do not know whether they will live long enough to hear an official apology from the Japanese government.

XINHUA