"The aggressive war has been over for nearly 60 years, but the evil
that the war seeded is still lingering," said a member of a
Japanese friendship group in Harbin Sunday.
Muraoka Kyuhei, chairman of the Japan-China Friendship
Association, together with leaders of another five Japanese
friendship groups, Saturday visited victims of chemical weapons
that were abandoned by the Japanese invaders during World War II in
Qiqihar, in northeast China's Heilongjiang
Province.
On August 4, 2003, a toxic gas leak killed one person and
injured 43 others after barrels of mustard gas abandoned by the
Japanese invaders were dug up at a construction site in
Qiqihar.
After hearing 11 victims' description about how they were
injured and how their health conditions are now, Nakata Yoshio,
chairman of the board of the Japan Association for the Promotion of
International Trade, said the situation was much worse than he had
expected.
"In Japan many people don't know what's really happening here.
And that's why we are here. We want to see with our own eyes the
real situation, and tell more Japanese people and politicians about
the injuries," said Yoshio. "The war has been over for a long time,
but its consequences are still being felt. For the sake of our two
countries' friendship, we will urge our government to accelerate
the process of destroying the left-over weapons."
Nakano Satoshi, of the Japan-China Society for Cultural
Exchanges, said that he believed that the most important thing of
all was to draw lessons from the tragedy.
"We need to learn the lessons of history, and pass on those
lessons to coming generations. Hopefully, through our society's
efforts, we let more people know the truth, and make them face up
to history," he said.
Chen Rongxi and his daughter were both injured by the leakage.
"In my case, the tragedy has involved two generations. I hope the
Japanese government will assume its responsibility, and dispose of
the abandoned chemical weapons as soon as possible. Younger
generations don't deserve new injuries," Chen said.
(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2004)