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Activists seek compensation from Japan

Japanese Embassy official Masataka Okano, right, receives boxes containing petitions with the names of 1 million Chinese people from activists, outside the embassy in Beijing yesterday. The petition demands Japan compensate victims of a leak at a World War II-era chemical weapons site in northeast China. PHOTO: AP

Chinese activists handed a petition containing more a million signatures to the Japanese Embassy yesterday, demanding compensation for victims poisoned by recently unearthed World War II-era chemical weapons.

The signature drive, launched by seven Chinese Web sites and signed by 1.12 million people within a month, is expected to fuel anti-Japanese sentiment and give Beijing more leverage on the issue when dealing with Tokyo.

Ten black binders holding about 5,000 pages with the names and home addresses of signatories were handed to a Japanese diplomat under the watchful eyes of Chinese policemen.

The petitioners also handed over two white protest banners with the signatures of victims.

"We are indignant and condemn the Japanese government for shifting responsibility and refusing to be held accountable," Zhou Wenbo, a spokesman for the group, said.

"We demand the Japanese government compensate victims, apologize, inform us of the number and sites of buried chemical weapons and ship back those which are dug up," the 24-year-old software engineer said.

Chinese police have rejected an application by 50 activists to stage a protest march in Beijing.

In the northeastern city of Shenyang, sirens were scheduled to wail at 9:18pm last night to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the start of the Japanese Imperial Army's occupation of northeast China, known then as Manchuria.

Some activists have called for flags to be flown at half mast and sirens to wail nationwide to mourn those killed during Japan's occupation of parts of China from 1931 to 1945.

Japan faces lawsuits over its abandonment of what it estimates are 700,000 chemical weapons in China.

Chinese activists estimate the Japanese left behind 2 million chemical weapons. Activists say such weapons have killed or wounded more than 2,000 Chinese since 1945.

In the most recent case, a man died and more than 40 people were injured last month by five World War II-era metal barrels containing mustard gas unearthed in northeastern Qiqihaer.

Japan has apologized for the incident, but refused calls for compensation on the grounds that the war compensation issue with China was settled when they established diplomatic ties in 1972.

"We received the document and we will immediately report that to Tokyo," the Japanese Embassy spokesman said by telephone.

"We've been coordinating with the Chinese authorities on this issue and we will continue to do so with the utmost sincerity," he said.

Organizers said the online signature response was unprecedented. They conceded they did not have the manpower to check the identities of signatories, but added that thousands of duplicate names had been filtered out daily.
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