Chinese Defense Ministry Spokesperson Tan Kefei said on Thursday that China urged Tokyo to speed up the process of disposing of the chemical weapons it left in China during World War II.

Earlier this month, during the 101st session of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the organization ratified a plan of action for the elimination of Japanese chemical weapons left in China.

"The Chinese side urges Japan to fully implement the plan for the elimination of chemical weapons left behind in China after 2022, to fulfill its political and legal obligations to the international community and China, to increase investment and accelerate this process, and to eliminate the danger which these chemical weapons represent, as soon as possible," Tan told a briefing.

While stressing that the Japanese are far behind schedule, he pointed out that considering that the OPCW Executive Council's plan has been approved is proof that the international community has raised attention to the matter. 

About two million tons of munitions were left by Japan during WWII in the three northeastern Chinese provinces of Jilin, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang.

In 1999, China and Japan signed an agreement under which Tokyo pledged to eliminate all weapons by June 2007.

Later, as Japan was unable to meet the deadline specified by the agreement, the period was extended at the request of Tokyo.

This photo showed Japanese tortured Chinese as experimental rat as Japanese did to Korean for chemical weapon lab pic.twitter.com/CrONTijlRz

— olivia (@olivia0827) June 4, 2015

Prior to WWII, Japan had a long history of military interventions in the Pacific. The enormous crimes imperialist Japan committed against the people of China during the second Sino-Japanese war from 1937-1945 were monstrous, costing possibly between 10 and 25 million Chinese civilians' lives.

These crimes have not been forgotten, especially since Japan has continuously refused to give any real apology for the crimes, provide compensation to the victims, or take a clear stand against this part of its history. 

For example, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which pays homage to convicted Japanese war criminals on several occasions.

The fact that Japan never had a “bourgeois revolution” left remnants of the old feudal state in place, the emperor for example. 

Shanghai to build a memorial hall for the #TokyoTrials as an educational base for the history of WWII and the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression https://t.co/qb27q5aa7I pic.twitter.com/H8gb81Ad6d

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) November 28, 2017

Within quite a short period of time, Japan emerged as a major economic power along with its military might, as it expanded beyond its borders building its own empire in the east.

Since the early 1990s, NATO and Japan have been engaged in dialogue and cooperation, often referred to as ‘partners across the globe' – with which it is developing relations, and NATO’s top leadership has consistently described Japan as a ‘natural partner’ over the years. 

Moreover, Japan's geostrategic position and its role as the primary American ally in Asia ensure Washington's sustained commitment to its defense.

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