The people of China are still being haunted by the nightmare of the aggressive war Japan launched during the 1930s and 40s, when pieces of news come in succession here and there that a growing number of Chinese citizens are continuously becoming new victims of chemical weapons the Japanese military left behind during those tumultuous years.

In addition to the physical damage brought by those abandoned poisonous weapons, the Japanese Government's attitude on this issue has added psychological damage.

The latest case happened on August 4 in Qiqihar, in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. In this incident, one person died and more than 40 people fell ill owing to five Japanese metal barrels containing mustard gas left by the invading Japanese troops during the War of Resistance Against Japan. (1937-45). The barrels were unearthed in a construction site in the city.

It is a real tragedy that these innocent people were severely injured or deprived of life during an era of peace.

The incident also makes it urgent to take necessary and effective precautionary measures to prevent similar cases from occurring in the future.

There are legal and moral grounds for the victims to demand a satisfactory reply.

It is legally grounded that the current Japanese Government has the full responsibility for the country's past wrongdoings upon other countries.

However, Japan has from the beginning tried to shun historical issues and shirk its duty for this incident.

Truly, after the case of poisoning, Japan did express regret over the incident and extended sympathies and condolences to the victims. It did dispatch a mission of investigators to Northeast China for an on-the-spot investigation, and also sent some chemical weapons experts to the site to handle those gas-leaking weapons. Further, some medical workers were dispatched to China to provide treatment for those who took ill in the incident.

Certainly, these positive post-incident remedial measures taken by the Japanese Government are necessary and should be confirmed, but they are far from enough to make up for the heavy losses sustained by the Chinese people.

Concerning how it should offer compensation to the Chinese people who have suffered serious losses of life and property, the Japanese Government has so far not taken any concrete and satisfactory actions.

Following the incident, it refused the appeal from the Qiqihar municipal government for compensation over the catastrophe on the grounds that the war compensation issue with China had been settled when the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1972.

This act by the Japanese Government is absolutely irresponsible.

It is true that the Chinese Government at that time declared that it would renounce the compensation requirement from Japan when negotiating with its neighbour for the establishment of diplomatic ties.

The 14-year-long war waged by Japanese aggressors against China brought about untold losses and an immense catastrophe for the country, both in life and property respects.

According to international law and war-related international regulations, the defeated countries are obliged to make compensations to the victors.

The Potsdam Proclamation jointly issued by China, the United States, and Britain in 1945 also clearly states that Japan should pay war reparations to victorious nations, including China certainly.

Due to the US-dominated situation of handling post-war issues with Japan, the change of international relations at that time, and more important, the tradition of the high tolerance of the Chinese people, the Chinese Government gave up its indisputable right for war indemnity from Japan.

The position the Chinese Government took was mainly based upon its good wishes to set up a lasting and friendly relationship with its neighbour, and avoid making war compensation a heavy burden for ordinary Japanese.

But the Chinese Government's stance on the war compensation issue does not deprive its people's rights for compensation claims from Japan.

The compensations, of course, include those for damages the Chinese people suffered from Japan's long-time occupation of their country, as well as those for the damage they may possibly suffer from the dangerous materials the aggressor left behind in their country, including chemical weapons.

It is estimated that there are roughly 2 million of such weapons in Chinese territory abandoned by Japanese forces, all of which are hidden threats to the life and health of the Chinese.

And there are about 2,000 Chinese who have been the victims of these abandoned weapons since the end of World War II.

With more sites of deserted chemical weapons discovered, the Japanese Government, however, has so far not provided effective co-operation to China to dismantle them. This has always been demanded by the Chinese Government.

The 1997 UN Convention on the Use of Chemical Weapons stipulates that the party which left chemical weapons in another party's territory should be responsible for destroying them.

The convention also gives a 10-year schedule for the work.

As a signatory to the convention, Japan has an obligation to destroy its deserted chemical weapons in China and sustain all necessary expenses for this purpose.

The Japanese Government should face up to the predictable wave of lawsuits from Chinese victims seeking compensation.

It should offer reparations, because a responsible country must show its accountability to those who are victims of its country's past crime.

Only by doing this can the Japanese Government win basic trust and understanding from its neighbours.

(China Daily September 24, 2003)