Japan condemns ‘extremely regrettable’ persecution by China

On Tuesday, August 29, Tokyo again condemned the actions against the Japanese attributed to China, since the beginning of the dumping of water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.

Japan on Thursday began dumping water from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean via injection needed to cool damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant following the 2011 tsunami in northeast Japan. This operation is approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Tokyo assures that it will be safe for the environment and human health. However, China has suspended all seafood imports from Japan since the previous week in response to the start of the water dump.

Since then, there has been a wave of phone harassment of Japanese companies and stoning of Japanese schools in China. These actions are “extremely sad and disturbing”This was stated by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Tuesday.

Mr. Hayashi also confirmed that a brick was thrown at the Japanese embassy in China. Asked by Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, the embassy confirmed that the information was “generally accurate”. “There have been no demonstrations or violence so far. (…). But there are a few lonely people who are in front of our door (…) does what you just mentioned”This was announced by the representative of the embassy. These people were “arrested” Chinese security forces stationed near the embassy, ​​he said.

When asked what action Beijing would take after the incidents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin replied on Monday that China “Always protect the safety and lawful rights and interests of foreigners in China in accordance with the law”.

“We urge the Japanese side to consider the legitimate concerns of all parties, immediately stop dumping nuclear-weapon-contaminated water into the sea, fully consult with neighbors and other stakeholders, and seriously rid the nuclear-weapon-contaminated water.”added Mr. Wang.

China urged to ‘provide accurate information’

At a press conference, Hayashi, for his part, on Tuesday urged the Chinese government “immediately take appropriate measures, including urging its citizens to act calmly to prevent the situation from escalating, and take all possible measures to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens” in China.

Mr. Hayashi also called on Beijing “provide accurate information about treated water” the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, the discharge of which into the sea began on Thursday, August 24, “Instead of unnecessarily arousing public concern by providing information devoid of any scientific basis”.

The water was purified from radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium, and then diluted with sea water before being released into the ocean so that its radioactivity level did not exceed the target ceiling of 1500 becquerels per liter. This is forty times below the Japanese standard for this type of operation, which is common practice in the nuclear industry worldwide.

Seawater analyzes conducted since the release began have confirmed that the level of radioactivity was in line with forecasts and did not exceed the established ceiling, station operator Tepco and the Japanese authorities said.

Based on its own analysis, the IAEA also assured last Thursday that the level of radioactivity in the tritiated water that Japan began to evacuate was “much lower” established operational limit of 1500 becquerels per litre.

In total, Japan intends to evacuate more than 1.3 million cubic meters of tritium water from Fukushima to the Pacific Ocean by the beginning of the 2050s according to the current schedule.