Chinese Vice Foreign
Minister Wang Yi Friday summoned Koreshige Anamia, Japanese
ambassador to China, and again lodged solemn representations to the
Japanese government after a Chinese citizen died from Japanese
chemical weapons deserted in China.
On the damages and
losses of the victims and places concerned, Wang strongly urged
Japanese government to take responsibility with concrete actions as
soon as possible, and give needed answers to the victims and
Chinese people.
Li Guizhen, 31, from
central China's Henan
Province, suffered most seriously from the chemical weapons
abandoned by Japanese invaders in Qiqihar city in northeast China's
Heilongjiang
Province during World War II and succumbed to death Thursday
night as a result of the failure of multiple organs.
Upon his hospitalization
in the late evening of August 4, Li was diagnosed to have 95
percent burns on his skin, the eyes and the respiratory system and
a loss of homatosis. Medical personnel in the hospital have exerted
their utmost to rescue him, using the best medicine available, but
failed to respond because of the severe harms done to him by the
deadly mustard gas.
Li's father Li Guoxiong
will seek compensation from Japan through the Qiqihar government,
said the director of the Qiqihar government information
centre.
The father will demand
compensation in the following forms: fees for supporting his son's
wife and parents from both sides; for rearing his son's children;
for delay in their work; for mental consolation; for burial; and
for transportation of relatives for the funeral.
The father also
expressed his willingness to make his son's body available for
medical research.
The chemical weapons,
discovered on Aug. 4 at a construction site in the city, were
stored in five metal barrels, one of which was accidentally broken,
releasing the oil-like mustard gas into the soil.
A total of 43 people
were hospitalized after coming into contact with the poisonous
mustard gas from the chemical weapons.
Wang told Anamia the
Chinese government has tried its utmost to save and treat the
victims injured by the leaked chemical weapons, but having been too
severely injured, Li Guizhen died despite everyone's best efforts,
which aggravated the whole issue to an extremely painful
degree.
He urged the Japanese
government to shoulder unshirkable responsibility for this serious
consequence.
Wang said the chemical
weapons abandoned by Japan have tortured many Chinese
people.
"Even today, 58 years
after the Japanese military's intrusion into China, they are still
threatening the safety of many Chinese people's lives," Wang said.
He added that the Chinese people have every right to be
indignant.
He stressed that the
Chinese people's feelings and dignity should and must be
safeguarded.
China absolutely cannot
allow such a tragedy to happen again, nor will it allow the
situation to continue, he said.
The Chinese side
strongly demands the Japanese government faithfully implement the
prescriptions in the Convention on the Banning of Chemical Weapons
and relevant agreements reached by the two sides, and clear up the
leftover chemical weapons with a responsible attitude, he
said.
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Meanwhile, the Japanese government on Friday expressed condolences
over the death of Li.
"The government of Japan
expresses its heartfelt condolences to the family of the victim who
passed away," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said in a
statement.
It added Japan will
"dispose of the dangerous chemical weapons as soon as possible" and
"continue to respond sincerely to the accident in close cooperation
with the Chinese side."
(Sources including
Xinhua News Agency and China Daily, August 23, 2003)