Japan urged to deal with ACWs in China

China urges the Japanese government to fulfill its responsibility, face up to the just call from visionary people in Japan and victim neighboring countries, and speed up the disposal of abandoned chemical weapons, or ACWs, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

An exhibition organized by a Japanese civil society group on the Japanese military's production and use of poison gas during WWII was held this week in Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

The exhibition documented how, after Japan's defeat, chemical weapons left behind in China continued to cause harm to local people.

To date, Japanese ACWs abandoned in China have caused more than 2,000 casualties and continue to pose a serious threat to human life as well as the environment, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Friday.

Facing the ironclad and undeniable evidence of crimes against humanity, right-wing forces in Japan have distorted history and falsely claimed that the ACWs are harmless and that the legal statute of limitations for liability have passed, Lin added.

The Japanese government has demonstrated insufficient sincerity and inadequate input in fulfilling its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention to completely destroy its ACWs in China, the ministry spokesman said, adding that the disposal process is seriously behind schedule.

Japan has an unshakable historical responsibility and an international legal obligation to remove the hazardous threat of ACWs in China, Lin said.