Japan Press Weekly

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2015 August 12 - 18 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

New private fund established to support Chinese victims of chemical weapons abandoned by Imperial Japanese Army

Civic organizations in Japan and China on August 14 held a meeting in Tokyo to set up a fund, the Japan-China future peace fund, to provide medical and livelihood relief measures for people affected by chemical weapons abandoned in China by the Imperial Japanese Army.

In a press conference held after the meeting, lawyer Minami Norio of the liaison council of lawyers’ groups giving legal support to Chinese victims of abandoned poison gas canisters said, “Only the governments will be able to bring about a final settlement of the problem, but I hope that this private fund will help improve mutual trust between Japan and China.”

Ci Aimin, vice chairman of the China Foundation for Human Rights Development, expressed his intention to foster collaboration with Japanese counterparts and keep providing support for the victimized.

The press conference was also attended by two Chinese victims of a 2003 accident where the Japanese Army’s abandoned poison gas was unearthed and accidentally released into the air at a construction site in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, leaving one dead and more than 40 hospitalized.

One of the two expressed appreciation for the establishment of the fund by saying that it is totally impossible for a person to pay for heart surgery on wages paid for working part-time.


Past related article:
> Court drops Chinese victims’ claim over poison gas leak [May 25, 2010]