Yahoo: Japan to build huge chemical weapons disposal complex in China

"Japan will spend more than 200 billion yen (1.9 billion dollars) building a chemical weapons disposal center in China to process Japanese weapons left there after World War II.

The chemical weapons recovery and disposal facilities will be built in the Haerbaling district of Jilin province, where most of Japan's abandoned chemical weapons are believed to be buried, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said...

apan and China will sign a special accord this summer on the initiative, the newspaper said.

The accord is expected to allow foreign companies that are not eligible to take part in large-scale projects under Chinese law to work on the disposal as long as they receive approval from the Japanese government, the newspaper said.

Foreign companies working on the project will also receive preferential treatment in tariffs on materials imported for the initiative, as well as in taxes on project-related deals in China, the newspaper said.

The Japanese government is expected to conduct an international bidding process for selecting construction companies for the project within the year, it said.

Japan estimates its forces abandoned more than 700,000 chemical weapons in China during the war, although Chinese experts say as many as two million exist -- the world's largest stockpile of abandoned chemical arms.