At the second trial held at the Tokyo High Court on Monday on a compensation case, the Japanese government said no evidence can prove that the chemical weapons causing harm or injury to Chinese citizens are necessarily those left behind by the Japanese army during its occupation of China (1937-1945).

Using this argument, it demanded the court reject the compensation claims made by the 13 Chinese plaintiffs, all victims or relatives of victims of the chemical weapons abandoned in China by Japanese troops.

On December 29 last year, the Tokyo District Court ruled the Japanese government, due to its delay in disposing of its discarded toxic weapons in China, should pay an indemnity of around 190 million yen (US$1.7 million) to the 13 Chinese victims, all injured last summer by leaking poison gas canisters.

The Japanese government, however, refused to accept the verdict and days later appealed to the Tokyo High Court.

In a letter sent to China this January, the Japanese government argued the chemical weapons found on Chinese soil might not necessarily have been left by the Japanese army, given that the Soviet army was also present in China during World War II.

The argument is not worth taking the trouble to refute.

A large number of findings from Japanese and Chinese historians have proven that Japan was the only country using chemical weapons against its enemies in World War II.

There has been further confirmation of these crimes from Japanese war veterans.

The latest statement from the Japanese government again indicates its "consistency" in rejecting these charges.

The Japanese government clearly wants to avoid paying compensation to the victims at this time, and to avoid the possibility of further compensation claims from Chinese victims in the future.

Also, Tokyo is looking for an excuse for its "intentional or unintentional" delay in dealing with numerous other poisonous weapons, located or not yet located in China.

The Japanese army developed and used large-scale chemical weapons during its aggression in China and buried or abandoned a lot of them in the country, especially in Northeast China after its defeat, to conceal the crime and avoid punishment.

The gas poisoning in Qiqihar, in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, on August 4 last year, injured more than 30 Chinese citizens, and provoked nationwide concern and indignation over the chemical weapons issue.

Disposal of the abandoned poisonous weapons in China as soon as possible, which needs more cooperation from the Japanese side, remains an important issue in Sino-Japanese relations.

In fact, as early as July 1999, the Chinese and Japanese governments signed a memorandum on the destruction of chemical weapons abandoned in China by the Japanese army.

But the work has not seen any real progress because of the lack of active cooperation from the Japanese side, which knows more about the exact number and location of the concealed weapons.

A conscientious and responsible person should assume responsibility for what he has done. So too should a government.

The Japanese government has belittled itself by shirking its responsibility.

It will be some time before we hear the final verdict of the Tokyo High Court, because it will be necessary to conduct some hearings.

It is to be hoped that the court will have the courage to make the right decision.

(China Daily April 30, 2004)