China urges U.S. to destroy chemical weapons stockpile as promised

BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Monday urged the United States to fulfill its commitments and adhere to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) by taking concrete actions.

Tan Kefei, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks during a press conference while addressing the U.S. claim of destroying its chemical weapons stockpile by autumn this year.

Tan said that since the CWC came into effect 26 years ago, over 99 percent of the world's chemical weapons stockpiles have been eliminated. Seven out of the eight countries that declared chemical weapons stockpiles have completed the destruction of their chemical weapons.

As stipulated by the Convention, the destruction of stockpiled chemical weapons should be completed within 10 years of its enactment in 1997.

Tan also said the destruction process of Japan's abandoned chemical weapons in China is severely lagging behind, and the destruction plan has been overdue many times.

China urges Japan to enhance its sense of urgency and step up actions to ensure these abandoned chemical weapons' early destruction in a clean and thorough manner, Tan said.