Tensions rise between China and Japan over radioactive waste dumping

Japan claims that a brick was thrown at its embassy in Beijing and that its citizens in China have faced harassment since the Fukushima nuclear power plant began dumping sewage into the Pacific Ocean.

As Al Jazeera recalls, China was the most vocal opponent of the release plan, a key element in Tokyo’s efforts to decommission the nuclear power plant that was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Japan has tried to assuage critics about the dump, and the IAEA, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, says the process is up to international standards, but Beijing remains unconvinced by the arguments.

Last week, when the first water began to flow into the ocean, China banned all imports of Japanese seafood. Other countries have stepped up inspections of Japanese water products as well, while there have been protests in South Korea (and Japan itself!)

On Tuesday, Japan’s foreign minister confirmed media reports that a brick had been thrown at the Japan’s embassy in Beijing and said embassy officials were the target of numerous phone calls originating from China. The Foreign Minister urged Beijing to take steps to calm the situation.

“This is extremely regrettable and alarming,” Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We would like to reiterate our call on the Chinese government to immediately take appropriate measures, such as calling on its citizens to act calmly to prevent the situation from escalating, and to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of the people of Japan and our diplomatic missions in China.”

On Monday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said he was unaware of the matter when asked about allegations of harassment of the Japanese at a regular briefing.

“China protects and ensures the security and legitimate rights and interests of foreign citizens in China in accordance with the laws,” Wang Wenbin said, before moving on to criticize Japan for dumping radioactive water into the sea.

The water needs to be disposed of in a “really responsible way,” he said.

On August 24, Japan began to discharge treated and diluted wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, with a total volume of more than 500 Olympic swimming pools. The water used to cool the damaged reactors is currently stored in giant tanks throughout the facility.

All radioactive elements were filtered out of the water, with the exception of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is difficult to remove but has been reduced to safe levels. Tritium is also emitted by nuclear power plants during their normal operation, including in China, Al Jazeera notes.

Japan has urged its citizens in China to “keep a low profile” and has stepped up security around schools and diplomatic missions since the start of dumping water from nuclear power plants into the sea.

In Beijing, a spokesman for the Japanese embassy told the AFP news agency that the staff were “extremely concerned.”

“Some people approached the entrance to our embassy,” the spokesman said. “They took this kind of action and then were taken away by armed police.”

Since Thursday, a number of businesses and government agencies in Japan, including Fukushima City Hall and schools in the area, have reportedly received thousands of abusive calls from the Chinese country code +86.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that many of the callers were shouting in Chinese, with some shouting “stupid” and other swear words.

The persecution prompted Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano on Monday to summon Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao to ask the Chinese people to act calmly and responsibly.

But the Chinese embassy in Tokyo released a statement saying it has sent Japan stern submissions about the Chinese embassy and consulates in Japan receiving “a lot of nasty calls from Japan.”

The calls caused “serious interference with the normal operation of the embassy and consulates,” Wu said, according to a statement from the embassy.

It is expected that the discharge of water from the nuclear power plant will take 30 to 40 years. All seawater and fish sampling data since the release have been within safety limits, Al Jazeera notes.

Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura visited Fukushima on Monday to help clean up the damage. He joined officials from a supermarket chain and tasted local shellfish and flounder. “By safely resetting, we will transparently disclose all data,” Nishimura said. “This is the best way to deal with reputational damage.”

For its part, China’s Global Times writes: “The Japanese government, which recently arbitrarily began dumping contaminated radioactive wastewater into the sea, is using a combination of public relations stunts at home and abroad in an attempt to divert attention, create antagonism, and transform itself from a perpetrator who puts health and environment around the world, an innocent victim of the onslaught of Chinese public opinion… Echoing the Japanese government and media, the US-led Western camp has also brought its media to the forefront, covering China’s growing so-called anti-Japanese sentiment, exaggerating the actions of a few Chinese citizens, including nasty phone calls to Japanese businesses and authorities.

Stressing that certain inappropriate actions by individual Chinese citizens are not encouraged, and most Chinese people remain rational in this matter and follow the basic principle of protecting their health from potential nuclear contamination, Chinese experts noted that Japan is carrying out an environmental terrorism incident and putting the future of the world at risk, and asked how it happens. dared to blame China for such a reaction.

In response to claims by a Japanese reporter that the Japanese in China are concerned that the Chinese are becoming more active in “anti-Japanese” activities, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press briefing on Monday that China always protects security and legitimate rights and interests of foreign nationals in China in accordance with the law.

Wang’s remarks come after Japanese and some Western media outlets, including Kyodo News, Reuters and the BBC, began to fan alarm calls from China about the release of water contaminated with nuclear materials at Fukushima…

Chinese observers said that after being challenged by Tokyo’s reckless move, which caused real “Godzilla fears” around the world, some people felt helpless and powerless to turn it around by blowing off steam by committing some inappropriate behavior. But observers noted that these were isolated cases that were not encouraged by mainstream Chinese public opinion or the authorities…

Japan is trying to portray itself as a victim by exaggerating the dissatisfaction among some Chinese citizens and using it to divert the attention of the international community from its grossly irresponsible dumping, said Liu Jiangyong, deputy dean of the Institute of Contemporary International Relations at Tsinghua University.

“We really need to be on the lookout for Japan’s skilled and well-organized PR stunts that are trying to set up a false counter-charge against the Chinese side,” Liu said in an interview with Global Times.