Seiyuuki
08-12-2003, 07:57 PM
China Summons Ambassador Over Poison Gas
Tue Aug 12, 3:19 PM ET
By TED ANTHONY, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - China summoned the Japanese ambassador Tuesday to "lodge solemn representations" about drums of World War II-era poison gas that sickened dozens of people after they surfaced in a northeastern city last week, the government said.
Fumiyo Anamia, Japan's top envoy in China, was called in by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi to answer for the barrels left there after World War II, according to the government's Xinhua News Agency.
"The Chinese government has always put the life and health of the people first, and it will not allow such situation to continue," Xinhua quoted Wang as saying without giving details. It said he "lodged solemn representations."
At least 34 people were sickened by the gas, and two were "close to death" this week, official media said.
The agency — the Chinese government's official organ — said: "The chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese troops in China are irrefutable evidence of Japanese militaristic aggression against China, and they still seriously threaten the lives of Chinese citizens and the local environment."
It said China was working hard to save the people injured after exposure to mustard gas that leaked from the barrels of chemical weapons in Qiqihar, a city in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province.
The gas was released when workers who unearthed the drums in Qiqihar broke open one at the site and cut up the others for sale as scrap, Chinese media reported.
Though China and Japan are cordial neighbors today, many Chinese remember the Japanese occupation of much of China before World War II as an atrocity for which Tokyo has never atoned. When tensions surface between the two countries, it rarely takes long before state media invoke "Japanese aggression."
Still, in a nod to diplomacy, Xinhua noted that the Chinese government "has noticed that the Japanese side has said it attaches importance to the serious issue and has promised to deal with it properly and with sincerity."
"China urges the Japanese government to take immediate action, shoulder its responsibility and deal with problems arising from the issue," Wang was quoted as saying.
Japanese officials say about 700,000 chemical weapons remain in China from the Japanese occupation.
The Japanese were defeated by the United States and its allies in World War II, and China's current communist government took power after a civil war four years later, in 1949.
So, it seem chemical weapons can be bury in the sand and kept hidden for a long long long time.
Tue Aug 12, 3:19 PM ET
By TED ANTHONY, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - China summoned the Japanese ambassador Tuesday to "lodge solemn representations" about drums of World War II-era poison gas that sickened dozens of people after they surfaced in a northeastern city last week, the government said.
Fumiyo Anamia, Japan's top envoy in China, was called in by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi to answer for the barrels left there after World War II, according to the government's Xinhua News Agency.
"The Chinese government has always put the life and health of the people first, and it will not allow such situation to continue," Xinhua quoted Wang as saying without giving details. It said he "lodged solemn representations."
At least 34 people were sickened by the gas, and two were "close to death" this week, official media said.
The agency — the Chinese government's official organ — said: "The chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese troops in China are irrefutable evidence of Japanese militaristic aggression against China, and they still seriously threaten the lives of Chinese citizens and the local environment."
It said China was working hard to save the people injured after exposure to mustard gas that leaked from the barrels of chemical weapons in Qiqihar, a city in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province.
The gas was released when workers who unearthed the drums in Qiqihar broke open one at the site and cut up the others for sale as scrap, Chinese media reported.
Though China and Japan are cordial neighbors today, many Chinese remember the Japanese occupation of much of China before World War II as an atrocity for which Tokyo has never atoned. When tensions surface between the two countries, it rarely takes long before state media invoke "Japanese aggression."
Still, in a nod to diplomacy, Xinhua noted that the Chinese government "has noticed that the Japanese side has said it attaches importance to the serious issue and has promised to deal with it properly and with sincerity."
"China urges the Japanese government to take immediate action, shoulder its responsibility and deal with problems arising from the issue," Wang was quoted as saying.
Japanese officials say about 700,000 chemical weapons remain in China from the Japanese occupation.
The Japanese were defeated by the United States and its allies in World War II, and China's current communist government took power after a civil war four years later, in 1949.
So, it seem chemical weapons can be bury in the sand and kept hidden for a long long long time.