On April 29, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian hosted a regular press conference. A reporter asked: Today is the 29th anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention. According to the Convention, Japan should complete the destruction of abandoned chemical weapons in China within 2007, but the current destruction plan has been overdue many times. Arias, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, once said, "Only when all Japanese relics of chemical weapons are completely destroyed, a 'chemical weapons-free world' will come." What is the spokesperson's comment on this?
Lin Jian said that Japan’s abandonment of chemical weapons in China was one of the serious crimes committed by the Japanese militarists during the war of aggression against China. It still endangers the safety of Chinese people’s lives and property and ecological security to this day. The comprehensive destruction of Japanese chemical weapons is Japan’s international obligation. China has been urging Japan to comprehensively and completely destroy Japanese relics of chemical weapons as soon as possible in accordance with the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Chinese and Japanese governments. Eliminating the poison caused by Japanese chemical weapons is an unshirkable responsibility for Japan. We once again ask the Japanese side to earnestly face up to its historical and practical responsibilities, fulfill its obligations under the Convention, provide comprehensive clues to the burial, increase investment, speed up the disposal process of Japanese relics of chemical weapons, return a pure land to the Chinese people, and remove the biggest practical obstacle to a "chemical weapons-free world".
(CCTV reporter Zhao Jing)
