Japan collects chemical weapon shells in Chinese city

The Japanese government has collected in Dunhua city of China's Jilin Province a total of 418 shells believed to be wartime chemical weapons abandoned by the Japanese invasion army, the Yomiuri daily reported on Thursday.

With the help of the Chinese government, Japanese personnel collected from Aug. 22 to Sept. 25 altogether 438 shells of chemical weapons in Dunhua, with 20 of them having been confirmed not to be those abandoned by the Japanese Army and having been transferred to the Chinese government, the Japanese Cabinet Office said on Wednesday.

The Japanese personnel plan to pack the 418 shells and keep them in a temporary storehouse in China, the office said.

The project, with an aim of disposing the abandoned chemical weapons, was the third of its kind in the northeastern Chinese city, following one beginning in Oct. 2005 and one beginning in May this year. A total of 605 shells were collected in the first two projects.

In July 2004, two Children of Dunhua were injured by a chemical shell while playing at a river. According to Japanese government's estimate, some 700,000 chemical weapon shells were left in a wide range of areas in northern and eastern China by its invasion army during World War II.

Source: Xinhua