The Guardian-China drastically cuts seafood imports from Japan in wake of Fukushima water release
September 25, 2023 3 min 601 words
这则报道涉及到中国在福岛核电站废水排放事件后大幅削减从日本的海产品进口。这个决定导致中国在8月份的海产品进口同比下降了67%，降至约30亿日元（约合20.2亿美元），中国海关的数据显示。这个禁令已经引发了外交争端，也在中国引发了反日情绪上升，让日本企业和外交机构收到大量辱骂电话。 首先，这个报道突显了福岛核电站废水排放事件对日本海产品出口的负面影响。这对于日本来说是一个重大挑战，特别是对于依赖中国市场的海产品出口。这也凸显了外交纷争如何影响国际贸易和国际关系。 其次，报道中提到中国的反应以及其他国家的态度。中国对福岛废水排放事件表示了极大的担忧，并称其可能对食品安全造成“放射性污染”。而英国和美国则表示支持废水排放，欧盟则称赞日本当局及时透明地提供了福岛状况的更新信息。这凸显了国际社会对于事件的分歧和争议。 此外，美国驻日本大使Rahm Emanuel对中国采取的“经济胁迫”行为提出了批评，认为中国在日本沿海继续捕鱼的同时，单方面禁止了日本的海产品进口。这凸显了外交争端如何涉及经济和贸易领域，并在国际关系中引发紧张局势。 总的来说，这则报道反映了福岛核电站废水排放事件对国际贸易和外交关系的重大影响。这个问题将继续引起国际社会的关注和争议，需要各方通过对话和协商来解决。
Chinese seafood imports from Japan have plummeted following Beijing’s ban on marine products from its neighbour in response to the discharge of wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Imports fell by 67% in August from the same month a year earlier, to about ¥3bn ($20.2m), the public broadcaster NHK said, citing data from Chinese customs.
The decision by Beijing and Hong Kong to suspend all imports of Japanese marine products in late August has sparked a diplomatic row and a rise in anti-Japanese sentiment in China, with Japanese businesses and diplomatic offices receiving a huge volume of abusive calls.
The operator of the Fukushima plant, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) began pumping more than 1m tonnes of water into the sea on 24 August, drawing criticism from China and local fishing communities concerned about damage to the reputation of their catch.
The water is treated to remove most radioactive substances, but contains tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that cannot be easily separated from water.
Scientists have pointed out that China’s own nuclear power plants release wastewater with higher levels of tritium than that found in Fukushima’s discharge, and that the levels are all within boundaries not considered to be harmful to human health.
Tepco and government officials say the discharge – a process that will take at least 30 years – will not affect the marine environment or human health as the heavily diluted water contains levels of tritium that are well within safety levels, echoing the findings of a recent report by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The seafood ban did not go into effect until late last month, but the latest figures indicate the significant effect it is already having on exports. China imported Japanese seafood worth 149.02m yuan ($20.43m) in August, the data showed.
China, Japan’s biggest market for seafood, has condemned the discharge, with the customs agency saying it risks the “radioactive contamination of food safety”. China’s foreign ministry said it was an “extremely selfish and irresponsible act”.
Britain and the US have voiced support for the water release and the European Union commended the Japanese authorities for “providing regular updates on the Fukushima status in a timely and transparent manner”. South Korea’s government has said it accepted the science behind the IAEA’s report, despite safety concerns among a large section of the South Korean public.
The US ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, drew an angry response from Beijing after he accused China of using “economic coercion” in imposing the seafood ban while its own boats continued to fish off Japan’s coast.
“Economic coercion is the most persistent and pernicious tool in their economic toolbox,” Emanuel said last week. “China is engaged right now in fishing in Japan’s economic waters while they are simultaneously engaged in the unilateral embargo on Japan’s fish.”
In response, China’s foreign ministry said Emanuel should stop encouraging Japan’s “irresponsible” behaviour.
Tokyo protested against the ban in a document it submitted this month to the World Trade Organization, describing it as “totally unacceptable”.
The ban is already having an impact on businesses in Japan, where there are reports of scallops and other seafood piling up in freezers at processing plants in the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, where 64% of seafood exports went to China.
The Fukushima water became contaminated after it was used to cool three nuclear reactors that melted down after Fukushima Daiichi was struck by a powerful tsunami in March 2011.