Japan, China Set to Build Chemical Weapons Disposal Facility

Japan and China agreed yesterday to build a chemical weapons disposal facility in China’s northern Jilin province, putting the countries on schedule to meet a 2007 deadline to destroy the World War II-era munitions, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, April 15).

Japan pledged to contribute $157 million to fully fund construction of the site, and to pay incineration costs for the approximately 700,000 chemical bombs and grenades it estimates Japanese soldiers abandoned in China during their retreat. Chinese experts believe there could be up to 2 million pieces of Japanese ammunition in the abandoned chemical stockpile, reportedly the world’s largest.

Site design for the facility is to begin immediately and construction is scheduled for spring of next year, according to Japanese Cabinet Office official Akihiko Aoyama (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, April 23).

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