Japan agrees damages for China

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Marcus
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Japan agrees damages for China

#1

Post by Marcus » 29 Sep 2003, 18:10

A Japanese court has awarded more than 180m yen ($1.5m) in compensation to victims of weapons left in China by the Japanese army at the end of World War II.
The ruling, at the Tokyo District Court, found in favour of 13 people who said that they or their relatives had suffered from exposure to poison gas and explosions caused by the abandoned weapons.
Beijing has repeatedly urged Japan to speed up the disposal of the estimated 700,000 chemical weapons left in China.
The issue was highlighted again last month, when one man was killed and more than 30 injured by mustard gas in north-eastern China.
Two weeks ago, more than a million people signed an online petition demanding compensation for Chinese victims.
The 13 plaintiffs - seven survivors of chemical exposure and six relatives of those who had died - brought the action against Japan in December 1996.
They demanded a total of 200 million yen ($1.8m) for injuries suffered between 1974 and 1995.
Presiding judge Yoshihiro Katayama said that if the Japanese Government had provided China with more information on the weapons' location, "many weapons might have been disposed of safely".
...
Monday's decision was in contrast with a ruling in May at the same court, which rejected damage claims by other Chinese nationals.
At the time, chief judge Takashi Saito said that while he acknowledged the Japanese army had left unused weapons in China, it was "very difficult" for Japan to search for munitions in another country.
Japan's wartime record in China is a regular source of tension between the two governments.
Monday's case is one of several writs lodged against the Japanese Government alleging damage or injury because of the weapons.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs say that up to 2,000 people have died since 1945, after coming into contact with the weapons.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3148454.stm

/Marcus

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Sam H.
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#2

Post by Sam H. » 01 Oct 2003, 15:21

Interesting, I had no idea that many weapons were still in China. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.


ChristopherPerrien
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#3

Post by ChristopherPerrien » 05 Oct 2003, 18:45

I guess they sued from a chinese prospective because $1.5m is nothing.
Japan must be laughing all the way to the bank to pay such a pittance.
I have to say the implied "condesencion" is typical.

Sounds like these Chinese(who have a third world view of money and wages) need some sound legal advice (i.e.) class action lawsuits and cost of "superfund" site type clean-up. It would serve Japan right if they had to pay a hundred billion dollars for all their actrocities against China alone during WWI. Hirohito's family could cover a sizeable portion of it.

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Cantankerous
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#4

Post by Cantankerous » 16 Aug 2020, 18:16

Sam H. wrote:
01 Oct 2003, 15:21
Interesting, I had no idea that many weapons were still in China. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
Important question: How much progress has been made by Japan and China working together to destroy Japanese chemical weapons that were left behind in China after Japanese forces withdrew from China? If anyone's aware, beginning in October 2010, the Chinese and Japanese governments began destroying all World War II-era chemical weapons that were being used by the Imperial Japanese Army in mainland China during the war (see https://www.opcw.org/sites/default/file ... g20_e_.pdf).

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Waleed Y. Majeed
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Re: Japan agrees damages for China

#5

Post by Waleed Y. Majeed » 16 Aug 2020, 18:42

Destroying it is a lot better than simply dumping it. Huge ammounts were dumped close to the island of Bornholm in the Baltic sea and occasionally fishers “catch” some of the chemical agents putting crew in danger. I don’t think they get any compensation for damages to crew, boat or equipment.

Waleed

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