A Chinese collector has happened to discover a 60-year-old book that details Japan's use of germ warfare, lending evidence for a strategy which killed and maimed tens of thousands of innocent people during World War II.

The 81-page book, owned by Beijing resident Wu Jianxun, details research results of germ warfare experiments on humans and was presented at Japan's 18th Bacteriology Conference in April 1944.

The book's back cover shows that the conference was attended by Imperial Japan's notorious army Unit 731 and other scientists from Japanese, Chinese and Korean germ warfare research centers.

The book provides insights into Japan's brutality toward innocent people, said Guo Chengzhou, a germ warfare expert with the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Science. He cites a section that explains how the virus that causes the deadly dengue fever was collected from rats and then used to infect people.

"The book will facilitate exposing the brutality of Japan's germ warfare in World War II," said Guo.

"Two Japanese germ warfare experts told me that they haven't discovered or even seen such a valuable reference in Japan," said Wang Xuan, head of the Chinese team of plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Japanese use bacteriological war.

Tong Zeng, director of the Chinese non-governmental federation which helps Chinese war victims claim compensation from Japan, called the book a better evidence than previous ones since it is a Japanese publication.

Unit 731 was established in 1936 and based in the suburbs of Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. It conducted germ warfare in many parts of China and held responsible for the brutal deaths and ghastly injuries suffered by tens of thousands of people.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2006)