Heedless of widespread anger and forceful representations at home and abroad, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on Aug 24 proceeded with its planned discharge of radioactive wastewater from its wrecked Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean as part of the first batch of disposal totaling 7,800 cubic meters in 17 days.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida emphasized that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has endorsed the safety of the treated nuclear-contaminated wastewater, claiming that the three-decade-long disposal scheme has already gained “understanding from both within the country and globally as well”.
He promised to protect the domestic fishing industry’s reputation until all the treated contaminated water is cleared. Despite such assurances, fishing communities in Japan and neighboring countries have been mounting stern opposition to the power plant getting rid of nuclear-polluted water in this way, which they say will tarnish seafood from Fukushima and the nearby regions.
Even right before the dumping of the nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea, over 100 protesters rallied in front of Kishida’s official residence in Tokyo, voicing their grave discontent over the Japanese government’s decision to proceed with the discharge plan. Polls in late August showed that Kishida suffered a drop in his approval rating to a new low of 26 percent.
Meanwhile, some South Korean officials said they did not see any scientific conflict with the Japanese wastewater discharge decision, but such an assertion was refuted by many South Korean nationals. The major opposition party in Seoul took the lead to protest against Japan’s nuclear-contaminated wastewater discharge plan, citing serious public apprehension with the large-scale inundation of the ocean with radioactive pollutants.
Such expressed concern was attested by a recent survey that found 62 percent of South Koreans were preparing to cut back on or cut out seafood altogether if the disposal plan went ahead. On Aug 24 — the discharge day — at least 16 college students were detained by South Korean police for storming a building where the Japanese embassy in Seoul is located. Police officers were seen dragging protesters out of the building and bundling them into a vehicle.
In Japan, while the government insists that the nuclear-contaminated wastewater treatment process is recognized by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, many residents have expressed their fear that the discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean might damage their country’s global image and their relationship with neighboring countries.
The rising ire among fishermen and their customers will indeed harm Japan’s economy if protests provoke more bans and boycotts. Political and economic affairs analyst Einar Tangen has warned that oceanic pollution will push Japan’s inflation to new highs following the decline of its aquatic industries. Already, food prices in the country have risen by 8.8 percent in July from a year earlier — the biggest increase since September 1976 — after an 8.4 percent gain in the preceding month.
China’s Foreign Ministry slammed Japan’s nuclear-polluted wastewater-pouring plan as “extremely selfish and irresponsible”, since it transfers the risks of nuclear contamination to the rest of humanity and places Japan’s own interests ahead of people around the world.
In 2021, Tsinghua University conducted a project simulating the spread of radioactive wastewater from Fukushima. Its findings demonstrated that the wastewater could reach Chinese coastal waters eight months after its release, and the North American coast in about 1,200 days. Earlier this year, a nuclear-laden fish caught in TEPCO’s harbor was discovered to carry a radiation level 180 times over the standard limit of radioactive elements in Japan’s food safety legislation. Despite sternly urging Japan to revoke its wrongful wastewater-dumping decision, the Chinese government has reassured the international community that the legal rights and safety of foreigners in China are protected under Chinese laws.
China announced on Aug 24 a ban on the import of all aquatic products from Japan — a necessary step to protect food safety and the marine environment. Here in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, by the Food Safety Order gazetted on Aug 23, all aquatic imports have since been banned from Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Miyagi, Niigata, Gunma, Nagano, Fukushima, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Chiba and Saitama.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu countenanced the policy for the imperative need to ensure reliable maintenance of a system to be free of human error for no less than 30 years. Tests will also be carried out on all aquatic products sourced from other regions in Japan. Meanwhile, Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan emphasized that experts will closely monitor and publicize the amount of radiation in seafood from Japan to safeguard food safety and people’s health. He added that the radioactive-contaminated wastewater consists of “dozens of radioactive substances”, and tritium is only one of them. He urged Japanese officials to publish the test results of all those radioactive pollutants.
It’s ridiculous that Japan — which devised the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping plan — has demanded that China scrap the import ban on Japanese aquatic products, threatening to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organization.
If the IAEA, which shields Japan from extensive censure for the unethical disposal move, thinks that the discharge plan is safe and insignificant, why should it not advise Japan to unload the wastewater inside its own territory? The discharge action by Japan, with its political allies led by the United States turning a blind eye to extensive global opposition to the totally ruthless arrangement, has betrayed the domestic and global public. The Pacific Ocean — an integral and precious part of nature — is not the exclusive property of Japan, which is therefore to be held accountable for its devastating actions. Is this an inseparable part of a behavioral pattern of this Asian nation, whose prime minister and his Cabinet members go to Yasukuni Shrine almost every year to pay homage to and treat Class A war criminals as heroes, despite widespread resentment from its neighbors because those war criminal committed heinous crimes against humanity, including killing or torturing millions of civilians during World War II?
The author is a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
