The Japanese government announced Wednesday that it had started to destroy chemical weapons abandoned in China during WWII.

Hideo Hiraoka, senior vice minister of Japan's cabinet office, made the announcement on behalf of the Japanese government at a ceremony marking the start of the destruction work in the suburbs of the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing.

He said the Japanese government had been working to remove the abandoned chemical weapons in light of the Chemical Weapons Convention and relevant memorandum signed between the Japanese and Chinese governments.

"Today's move marks a new phase in the disposal of abandoned chemical weapons in China, in which the work has shifted from excavation and recovery to destruction," he said.

"This is the result of years of efforts made by Japanese and Chinese authorities, and will have far-reaching consequences on the bilateral relationship," he said.

"The Japanese government will continue to take measures to speed up the destruction process," he added.

Zhang Zhijun, the representative of the Chinese government and vice foreign minister, said at the ceremony that Japanese troops had committed a serious crime by abandoning chemical weapons in China during WWII.

"To destroy the abandoned chemical weapons as soon as possible will help eliminate their threat to the lives and properties of Chinese people and ecological environment in certain regions, heal the trauma for Chinese people in war-inflicted regions, and promote a healthy and stable development of China-Japan relations," he said.

Zhang said China had been urging Japan to completely destroy its abandoned chemical weapons in the country as soon as possible, and at the same time, had actively offered assistance to Japan in destroying them.

"Today's move marks the start of an important new phase in the disposal work," he said.

"It is hoped that while ensuring personal safety and environmental protection, Japan will continue to increase manpower and material resources to speed up the destruction process and destroy the weapons completely as soon as possible in accordance with the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Memorandum of Understanding between China and Japan on the Destruction of Abandoned Chemical Weapons in China," said Zhang.

Krzysztof Paturej, director of the Office of Special Projects with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, attended the ceremony Wednesday.

After the ceremony, the officials paid a visit to a site and facilities for destroying chemical weapons on the outskirts of Nanjing.