China on Tuesday urged Japan to accelerate the process of removing chemical weapons it abandoned in China during the Second World War.

"We expect Japan to do its utmost to quicken the process of removing abandoned chemical weapons and wipe out the related threats at an early date," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular press briefing.

Qin's comments came after a court in Tokyo on Monday heard the case concerning two school boys from northeastern China's Jilin Province, who were in 2004 injured by chemical weapons left by Japanese troops in the war and filed a suit early this year.

Qin said abandoned chemical weapons were one of the crimes that the Japanese aggressors committed during the World War II and still posed severe threats to the peoples' life, property and local environment.

"We hope Japan can carry out the Chemical Weapons Convention, honor the commitment in the memorandum it signed with China and take responsibility," the spokesman said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2008)