China said Thursday no abnormalities were found in seawater samples it independently collected near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, reportedly carried out last October, but stressed the need to continue such monitoring before it can lift a total ban on Japanese seafood imports.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a press conference that Beijing's opposition to the treated water discharge into the sea, which began in August 2023, "remains unchanged." She said having China conduct its own independent monitoring was "only one of the steps" for Japan to fulfill its commitments.
The resumption of Japanese seafood imports "depends on a series of scientific data including our follow-up independent sampling and monitoring" and whether Tokyo will take measures to guarantee the quality and safety of its aquatic products, Mao added.
She said Chinese research institutions detected no abnormal data in the radioactive concentration of tritium, cesium-137 and strontium-90. The Global Times, a tabloid affiliated with China's ruling Communist Party, reported Wednesday the samples were collected last October.
China joined a survey of the marine environment under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency, together with South Korea and Switzerland. "Specific data will be compiled and released by the IAEA," the Global Times said.
Japan and China agreed in September last year that seafood imports from Japan will gradually resume, contingent on Beijing's participation in the monitoring activities.
China had imposed the blanket ban immediately after the first release of treated water.
The tabloid quoted Chinese experts as saying Japan's "unilateral decision to initiate the discharge lacks legitimacy" and "a cautious approach should always be maintained from a scientific perspective."
© KYODO
17 Comments
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Agent_Neo
Even though the IAEA is checking, China is the country that is finding fault with Japan.
Does anyone know how they will falsify the figures?
theFu
So, all China's claims were false, as we knew they would be. No surprise here.
Chinese CCP blocked Japanese seafood for how long over NOTHING? If I were Chinese in China, I'd be extremely unhappy with my govt over this, if I didn't have 50 other reasons to be unhappy already.
JJE
China just reasonably wanted multiple independent verification. If Tokyo hadn't stonewalled, this process would be several squares down the board. Beijing is hardly alone in this position.
theFu
Actually, they are alone. They stirred the pot to get others with of history of Japanese hate to go along.
Looking forward to the apologies from each country that was clearly incorrect, but I won't hold my breath for that to happen. Chinese don't like losing face, after all, but they do it so very often.
obladi
Both China and Japan have recently been birthplaces of epic disasters that were preventable. If China had not covered up the Wuhan outbreak, we might have prevented a pandemic. If TEPCO had disclosed the Fukushima meltdown earlier, residents could have taken action. What we need is more transparency. I think independent testing is perfectly reasonable and will help to build trust in the future.
Coulda been
So, the testing discovered nothing abnormal. Solution- keep testing until we do. Typical CCP narrative.
WiseOneIn Kansai
As usual, the CCP time wasting and always providing a false narrative. If you want respect from the world, you have to earn it❗
Tokyo Guy
"China is clearly owned and controlled by the global corporate elite bureaucrat illuminati! Fight the power! Say no to The Man!"
Oops, sorry. Forgot to change account.
OssanAmerica
Japan should simply ban all seafood exports to and from China. And as long as China wants to keep this silly facade going, start banning product after product.
China has been a member of the IAEA since January 1, 1984. Despite this they refuse to accept the IAEA's findings and place additional demands on Japan as an excuse to weaponize trade.
Japan should lower themselves to China's level and demand IAEA investigation into releases from Chinese nuclear plants. And ban seafood imports from China during the process.
Mr Kipling
Of course. All just a political football game. Japan follows the anti China play of the US, China can retaliate.
All just a game.
fallaffel
This is some good old trolling from China.
isabelle
Zero surprise there. We've known it's safe since the start, per the transparent data published and IAEA monitoring of each release.
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/tritium-level-far-below-japans-operational-limit-in-tenth-batch-of-alps-treated-water-iaea-confirms
China's ban continues to violate WTO rules. See Articles 2.2 and 5:
https://www.worldtradelaw.net/document.php?id=uragreements/spsagreement.pdf&mode=download
But despite the losses to Japan's fisheries industry (which is now finding new markets), the country that will suffer the most through this is China, as its malign acts ensure that it will never join the CPTPP.
isabelle
Total nonsense, as usual.
The IAEA (of which China and many other countries are members) has always maintained that the plan is "consistent with international safety standards," and that it will have a "negligible impact," and it has confirmed this via monitoring with each release for over a year at several independent labs. No abnormalities have been found.
More nonsense.
Tokyo offered the same monitoring framework back in September 2023, and China refused so that it could practice its economic coercion for another 16 months.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/09/a0e5a0bae68d-china-rejects-japans-suggestion-of-joining-fukushima-water-framework.html
GuruMick
I will dumb things down a little....
Dumping huge volumes of radioactive waste water into an ocean would and should give cause for concern for all Pacific nations and not just because of eating fish.
Therefore China was within its rights to question safety, but ,politically, also a chance to needle Japan.
I still think using our oceans as a garbage dump belongs in a long past era.
isabelle
It should. But releasing water that has been shown to be safe by the international body best-placed to confirm this shouldn't.
It is within its rights to question safety, but per WTO rules it must not:
1) Totally dismiss the body of evidence that the IAEA has amassed, proving that safety
2) Ignore Japan's call to participate in a separate monitoring framework for well over a year
That is unquestionably what it is. Nothing to do with safety.
If China were truly concerned about safety it would ban its own seafood, since its plants release far worse.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/03/d7a70def8245-chinas-nuclear-plants-released-tritium-above-fukushima-level-in-2022.html
wallace
We have known that for many months.
oldman_13
You can't make this stuff up. Pure comedy.
Claire
We all knew this already.