China ramped up the pressure on Japan at the OPCW’s 30th Conference of the States Parties (CSP-30) in The Hague, urging it to finally dispose of abandoned chemical weapons buried on the Chinese mainland.
At Wednesday’s session, delegates reviewed key decisions by the Conference and the Executive Council on chemical-weapons destruction. Japan’s progress report showed a 6.8% drop in 2025 spending on ACW disposal in China.
“This report focuses unilaterally on destruction progress and investment while avoiding any discussion of the fundamental problems,” said Wang Daxue, head of the Chinese delegation to CSP-30. He reminded attendees that Japan was supposed to complete the destruction by 2007 under the Chemical Weapons Convention but has postponed its deadline four times due to "insufficient attention, inadequate investment, and failure to voluntarily provide meaningful information" on burial sites.
China warned that these abandoned arsenals continue to pose significant risks to the lives and property of residents and to the natural environment. Beijing urged Tokyo to reflect on its history of aggression, honor its treaty commitments, and boost efforts across all aspects of the destruction process.
More than a dozen OPCW members, including Russia, South Africa and Tunisia, backed China’s call, pressing Japan to accelerate the operation.
Speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, Mirjam Blaak Sow of Uganda’s Permanent Representation to the OPCW said, “The overall progress of destroying the chemical weapons abandoned by Japan on the territory of China was less than expected. We urge the abandoning State Party to make the fullest possible efforts to complete the destruction as early as possible. We also look forward to stronger OPCW supervision of the process.”
OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias underlined the global stakes at the conference opening: “It is important to note that the complete destruction of chemical weapons worldwide can only be achieved once the task of destroying all the chemical weapons abandoned in China is completed.”
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China urges Japan to speed up disposal of abandoned chemical weapons
cgtn.com
