Country & Territory Reports - Landmine Action

44 china
Yunnan, both bordering Vietnam, finding 359 survivors in
three counties of Guangxi and 5,310 total victims (1,499
deaths, 3,811 injuries) in Wenshan County, Yunnan. 370
Casualties still occur in Yunnan, although Chinese officials
claim that “no person or livestock [has been] killed or
wounded by mines in the cleared areas”. 371 In the 2001
Landmine Monitor survey, the majority of victims
interviewed were young male farmers. Three were soldiers
on active duty. Of 200 victims treated at the CDPF’s
Guangxi Prosthesis Centre in 2000, only six were women.
Ethnic minority groups were over-represented, as these
groups live in mountainous areas in close proximity to the
border. 372 It is not known to what extent MOTAPM and ERW
may have contributed to these casualties.
Data on casualties from other affected areas, and from
1939-45 War ordnance, is not available. The danger to
civilians from mines along China’s borders with India and
Russia is reportedly minimal due to the sparsely
populated, mountainous terrain. 373 Three incidents
involving abandoned Japanese chemical weapons occurred
in north-eastern China (Manchuria) in 2003-04: a 75mm
mustard gas shell injured two children in Dunhua, Jilin, in
July 2004, and poison gas leaking from storage drums in
Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, killed one construction worker and
injured 43 others in August 2003. 374 The Japanese
Government expressed sympathy and investigated the
incidents. 375
Little specific information is available on social and
economic impacts of ERW or MOTAPM. The Chinese
Government notes that “unexploded ordnance left over
from World War II … pos[es] serious threats to the lives and
property of local civilians”. 376 Mine or ERW survivors
interviewed by Landmine Monitor and the CDPF report that
their capacity to work has been drastically reduced
because of their injuries and many had to abandon their
previous occupations. Their inability to work and earn an
income is the major concern for the majority of these
survivors. 377 Chinese officials stress the positive role that
demining around the Vietnamese border has played in
economic development and poverty reduction. Clearance
operations resulted in the opening of more than 290
border gates, facilitating trade 378 and other movements of
goods and people between the countries.
Unlike in neighbouring Vietnam and Laos, there is no
information regarding a scrap metal or explosives industry
in mine and ERW-affected areas.
erw and motapm – global survey 2003–2004
Efforts to address these problems
There is little international or non-governmental
involvement in mine action. Clearance is done solely by the
PLA. Other organizations involved in survivor assistance
include CDPF, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Post-War Recovery
Foundation, 379 International Committee of the Red Cross
and the Red Cross Society. 380
Chinese officials have stated that the Government
“attaches great importance to mine victim assistance. Over
the past years, the central and local governments have
made relentless efforts to assist people affected by the
mine problem, including formulating and implementing
victim assistance plans, appropriating special funds to
help mine victims install artificial limbs, providing medical
assistance and daily life relief, and improving local social
and economic infrastructure, etc. As a result of these
efforts, the living conditions of mine victims have been
significantly improved. However, due to the tough natural
conditions, the fragile ecological environments and the
generally low level of economic development in the local
areas, victim assistance remains an arduous task for the
government and the society.” 381
Legislation
China is a party to the CCW and all of its protocols to date,
including the Amended Protocol II on landmines, which it
joined in November 1998. 382 In China’s view, “the
landmine issue involves both humanitarian concerns and
legitimate military need of sovereign states. These two
aspects should be addressed in a balanced way, without
ignoring either one.” 383 For China, Amended Protocol II
“strikes the right balance between the humanitarian
concerns and sovereign states’ need for self-defense”. 384
China has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, although it
says it endorses the humanitarian objectives of the treaty
and sent an observer delegation to the Fifth Meeting of
States Parties in September 2003. China views the
prohibition of mines as admirable, but considers clearing
those already in the ground as “a more pressing task”.
China’s defense policy reportedly rules out the use of
landmines by its troops abroad. 385
In a faxed letter, China’s Department of Arms Control and
Disarmament stated that the information contained in
Landmine Action’s 2003 ERW Global Survey is “basically
objective and correct”. 386