A Chinese representative for victims of weapons left by the invading Japanese army during World War II appeared Monday in the Tokyo High Court to argue for that a lower court was correct in its ruling last autumn that the Japanese government was negligent in abandoning chemical and explosive weapons.

Widow Sun Jingxia, 69, gave 20 minutes of testimony to explain how her husband, Xiao Qingwu, had suffered from a chemical weapon that was abandoned by Japan, and eventually died of mustard gas poisoning.

Xiao was injured in 1974 when he and two other workers encountered a Japanese chemical bomb as they cleared silt along the Songhuajiang River in northeast China. Xiao died in 1991.

The lawsuit, initiated in 1996, involved the leaking of toxic chemical agents and shell explosions between 1974 and 1995. The Tokyo District Court found for the 13 plaintiffs--seven survivors and six people representing three deceased victims-and awarded them190 million yen (US$1.7 million) in damages last September 29.

It was the first claim ever won by Chinese victims of abandoned Japanese weapons.

The Japanese government decided on October 3 to appeal the ruling to the Tokyo High Court.
The appeal hearing is expected to last several days, according to one of the lawyers, Su Xiangxiang.

In January this year, the Japanese government sent a letter to China saying that the Japanese army might not have left chemical weapons found in China, because the Soviet army was also in northeast China during World War II, according to Su.

"That is ridiculous and groundless," said Su, who has been fighting chemical weapons cases for nearly a decade.

The research of both Chinese and Japanese historians shows that Japan was the only country using chemical weapons during World War II, Su said.

Another chemical weapon incident occurred last August in which one person was killed and 43 injured in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province.

Although the Japanese government has paid about 300 million yen (US$2.7 million) for medical and other expenses, the victims decided to file a lawsuit seeking a formal apology from the Japanese government.

Su and other Chinese and Japanese lawyers having been collecting evidence and materials from the victims to place a case before the court on August 4, the anniversary of the incident.

It is estimated that Japanese troops left more than 2 million bombs in at least 17 provinces in China.

(China Daily, China.org.cn April 27, 2004)