Amid tense Sino-Japanese relations, two Japanese workers were injured last week in Jilin Province, China, while handling chemical weapons abandoned by the Japanese military during World War II. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the 4th that Chinese personnel immediately provided on-site medical care and sent them to a hospital, and that the two have since been discharged and returned to Japan.
Kyodo News reported on the 4th that the Japanese government recently revealed that on May 26, during excavation and recovery operations of chemical weapons abandoned by the Japanese military in Jilin Province, a shell leaked toxic gas, injuring the hands of two Japanese workers, who were then hospitalized for treatment.
According to an announcement on the official website of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a routine press conference was held in the afternoon, where a reporter from Asahi Television raised a question on the matter.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated that on May 26, two Japanese personnel were exposed to poison on their arms due to the breakage of a chemical weapons shell while handling Japanese abandoned chemical weapons in Jilin Province. Chinese personnel immediately provided medical care and sent the two to a hospital. After receiving treatment in the hospital, the two were sent back to Japan on May 29.
Public information indicates that the destruction of Japanese chemical weapons abandoned in China after World War II is a project jointly executed by the Chinese and Japanese governments. In 1999, China and Japan signed a “Memorandum on the Destruction of Japanese Abandoned Chemical Weapons in China,” and from 2000, operations were gradually carried out in cities including Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, Wuhan in Hubei Province, and Harbin in Heilongjiang Province.
This program was originally scheduled for completion in 2007 but has been postponed multiple times. Since Sino-Japanese relations became tense last November, China has repeatedly and publicly urged Japan to increase investment and speed up the process of disposing of abandoned chemical weapons.
Kyodo News reported that the memorandum between China and Japan clearly states that the Japanese government will provide necessary funding and technical support to destroy the abandoned chemical weapons. According to data from the Japanese Cabinet Office, as of the end of March last year, about 118,000 chemical munitions had been destroyed in total. Disposal operations are still underway.