Report: Abandoned Chemical Weapons in China SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF ABANDONED CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN CHINA by Hongmei Deng and Peter O’Meara Evans Dr. Hongmei Deng was a visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) of the Monterey Institute of International Studies from January to May 1997. She is an associate professor of chemistry at the Center of Analysis and Measurement of Fudan University in Shanghai, China, where she works with Fudan’s Arms Control and Regional Security Program. Her research interests include the Chemical Weapons Convention and its implementation in China. Peter O’Meara Evans is a Research Associate at CNS. In 1996, he worked for six months in the Chemical Demilitarization Branch of the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. rom 1937 to 1945, Japan employed chemical vides, “Each State Party, during the implementation of weapons against China and then abandoned large its obligations under this Convention, shall assign the Fnumbers of unused chemical munitions on Chi- highest priority to ensuring the safety of people and to nese soil. Before the negotiation of the 1993 Chemical protecting the environment and shall cooperate as ap- Weapons Convention (CWC), Japan and China rarely propriate with other States Parties in this regard.”2 Nev- discussed the issue of abandoned chemical weapons ertheless, the CWC does not specify detailed procedures (ACW). In 1991, however, the two governments became for the destruction of ACW, which much be negotiated aware that the Convention would assign responsibility between the two sides. for destruction of ACW to the abandoning state, and ini- This report describes the harmful effects of abandoned tiated bilateral discussions on the legal, political, and fi- Japanese chemical weapons on Chinese citizens and the nancial aspects of this issue. The two sides also conducted environment since 1945, and their potential for causing several joint field surveys in China to assess the scope of further damage unless they are safely disposed of. The the problem. potential environmental consequences of ACW destruc- Both Japan and China have ratified the CWC, which tion are also briefly discussed. entered into force on April 29, 1997. As a result, the two governments must now finalize arrangements for the HISTORICAL BACKGROUND destruction of abandoned Japanese chemical weapons Japan began using chemical weapons against the Chi- on Chinese soil. According to the Convention, “For the nese in 1937. During the campaign against the city of purpose of destroying abandoned chemical weapons, the Wuhan in Hubei Province from August 20 to November Abandoning State Party shall provide all necessary fi- 12, 1938, the Japanese 2nd and 11th Armies carried out nancial, technical, expert, facility as well as other re- over 375 chemical attacks involving more than 9,000 sources. The Territorial State Party shall provide chemical mortars and 43,000 toxic smoke cylinders.3 On appropriate cooperation.”1 With respect to the social October 1, 1938, the Japanese Army delivered over 2,500 and environmental aspects of destruction, the CWC pro- The Nonproliferation Review/Spring-Summer 1997 101 Report: Abandoned Chemical Weapons in China chemical artillery shells on a 2,700 square meter area at In general, ACW pose much greater hazards to civil- the battle of Dingxiang in Shanxi province.4 On May ians than military stockpiles of chemical weapons, such 28, 1942, the Japanese Army used choking agents to kill as those stored in depots in the United States and Rus- over 800 people hiding in the catacombs beneath Beitan sia. Military stockpiles are stored in special bunkers un- village in Heibei Province.5 By the end of 1945, Japa- der lock and key, so that barring a catastrophe, ordinary nese chemical warfare against the Chinese had resulted citizens face no immediate threat. Since the location of in an estimated 80,000 casualties and 10,000 fatalities.6 many ACW is not known and civilians lack an under- The Japanese army did not use all of the chemical standing of their hazards, they risk being accidentally weapons it had brought to China and left many behind exposed to these weapons. A few examples illustrate during its retreat in the closing months of the war. To- this point (See Figure 1 for the geographic location of kyo feared that discovery of these munition stockpiles ACW accidents). by the Soviet Red Army would show Japan’s actions One of the largest accidents involving ACW in China were not consistent with the Geneva Protocol banning occurred in February 1953 near Angangxi in chemical-weapons use.7 Accordingly, the Japanese Army Heilongjiang Province; 70 manual laborers were injured sought to hide its unused chemical weapons. On August when transporting ACW purchased as scrap metal. An- 12, 1945, for example, Unit 516 of the Japanese other occurred on September 2, 1959, in Taiyuan City, Kwangtung Army cast drums of chemical agent from a Shanxi Province. During the construction of a chemical railway bridge into the depths of the Nenjiang River.8 In materials facility, workers struck buried chemical muni- another instance, Unit 526 of the Kwangtung Army dug tions, and leakage from the shells injured over 80 two large pits and buried over 200 drums of chemical people.16 In 1963, the Dunhua County Committee for agent.9 When the Chinese army reclaimed Japanese- the Disposal of Old and Toxic Munitions cordoned off occupied territory, no chemical weapons were found.10 the entire region containing ACW and forbade land cul- In 1953, the Dunhua County Committee on the Dis- tivation, felling of small timber, grazing, hunting, or the 17 posal of Old and Toxic Munitions in Jilin province re- collection of mushrooms or medicinal plants. This re- ported that 45,000 chemical munitions were believed to gion is still considered unsafe and has been rendered be five meters underwater in the Tumen River (near the unusable by virtue of the buried toxic munitions. village of Shuaiwanzi) and hence irretrievable.11 In Feb- In February 1970, in Shuangyang, Yian County, ruary 1992, at the Conference on Disarmament in Heilongjiang Province, five farmers were injured by mus- Geneva, China announced that 100 tons of agent and tard and lewisite when they tried to defuse a chemical 2,000,000 chemical munitions had been abandoned on its munition in order to use the shell as a farming implement. territory, 1,800,000 of them in Jilin province.12 In May The farmers routinely defused high-explosive shells for 1996, Shigekazu Sato of the Japanese Ministry of For- this purpose but were unprepared for a shell with a chemi- eign Affairs announced that Japanese members of a joint cal fill.18 In 1974, in Songhua Jiang in Jilin province, Mr. survey team estimated that there are 700,000 abandoned Li, a worker on a river dredging boat, was injured when chemical munitions in Jilin province.13 he tried to remove a chemical round wedged in a pump.19 He was incapacitated by this accident (blistered hands ACW AS A HAZARD TO CIVILIANS and scalp) and had to quit his job. Another man in 1974 in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, was injured when he Japanese chemical weapons continue to injure and kill encountered a chemical weapon while dredging a river, Chinese citizens. China estimates that ACW have caused and he died in 1991 partially as a result of his exposure.20 2,000 casualties and fatalities since the end of World War II,14 with 500 cases in Dunhua County alone.15 A wide In 1982 in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang Province, sew- range of people in Chinese society have been affected, age construction workers unearthed several barrels and including junior high school teachers and students who promptly opened them. Five were splashed with toxic found ACW on the school grounds, riverboat workers liquid containing mustard agent and at least two remain who brought the weapons up during dredging operations, visually impaired. The largest accident occurred in Oc- and construction workers digging beneath city streets. tober 1987 in Fulaerji (alsospelled Hulan Ergi), Effects of exposure to ACW have ranged from minor Heilongjiong Province. Over 200 people were injured injuries to death. when workers at a construction supply facility tried to 102 The Nonproliferation Review/Spring-Summer 1997 Report: Abandoned Chemical Weapons in China Shuangyuang Heihe LEGEND Qiqihar RUSSIA 1970: 5-18 injuries 1946: 3 injuries Site where ACW related injury or death occurred 1945: 1 death 0-1 deaths 1 death 1950: 8 injuries Heping 1 death Site that suffered chemical attack during the war 1945: 1 injury 1989: 12 injuries Jiamusi Other ACW site Fulaerji 1974: 4 injuries 1978: 1 injury 1987: 207 injuries Harbin Angangxi 1974: 1 injury 1953: 70 injuries 1995: 2 injuries MONGOLIA Songhua Jiang Shangzhi 1 death 1974: 1 injury Mudanjiang 1982: 5 injuries Shuaiwanzi Shenyang Meihekou Dunhua 1945: 1 injury 1946: 4 injuries Beijing N. KOREA Dingxiang 1952: 27 injuries Beitan 1954: 13 injuries Taiyuan 1958: 3 injuries Gaocheng 1969: 9 injuries 1959: 80 injuries CHINA 1991: 20 injuries S. KOREA 1993: 1 injury JAPAN General Provincial Statistics: Heilongjiang Province Shanghai 1970: 2 injuries Wuhan 1976: 9 injuries Jilin Province: 1970: 7 injuries Yunan Province: 1971: 4 injuries 1 death ACW CASUALTIES IDENTIFIED: 500-513 ACW FATALITIES IDENTIFIED: 5-6 TAIWAN VIETNAM HONG KONG LAOS Figure 1: Some Locations of Japanese Chemical Weapons Attacks and Subsequent Chinese ACW Injuries set fire to a barrel of liquid