Reuters-Exclusive US military bulk buys Japanese seafood to counter China ban
October 30, 2023 4 min 830 words
这则新闻报道揭示了美国军方采取了聪明的行动来应对中国对日本海产品的禁令。美国开始大量采购日本海鲜，以供应驻扎在日本的军队，这是对中国对日本福岛核电厂废水排放引发的禁令的回应。这个举措不仅有助于确保美国军队的供应，还向中国发出了明确的信息：美国不会屈服于经济制裁。 美国驻日本大使拉姆·伊曼纽尔提到，这一行动不仅是提供帮助，还是对中国经济压力的一种回应。他还提到了如何帮助受制裁国家或产业，是削弱中国经济制裁的有效方法。 伊曼纽尔强调他是“现实主义者”而不是“鹰派”，并认为坦诚和诚实是建立稳定关系的一部分。他还指出中国面临的经济挑战，并表示中国领导层的决策可能会对年轻一代产生负面影响。 这则报道突显了美中之间复杂的关系，美国采取的措施旨在维护其利益，并传达了对中国政策的坦诚态度。这个故事提醒我们，国际关系的未来将继续受到各种挑战和变数的影响。
The United States has started bulk buying Japanese seafood to supply its military there in response to China's ban on such products imposed after Tokyo released treated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.
Unveiling the initiative in a Reuters interview on Monday, U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said Washington should also look more broadly into how it could help offset China's ban that he said was part of its "economic wars".
China, which had been the biggest buyer of Japanese seafood, says its ban is due to food safety fears.
The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog vouched for the safety of the water release that began in August from the plant wrecked by a 2011 tsunami. G7 trade ministers on Sunday called for the immediate repeal of bans on Japanese food.
"It's going to be a long-term contract between the U.S. armed forces and the fisheries and co-ops here in Japan," Emanuel said.
"The best way we have proven in all the instances to kind of wear out China's economic coercion is come to the aid and assistance of the targeted country or industry," he said.
Asked about Emanuel's comments at a press conference on Monday, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said: "the responsibility of diplomats is to promote friendship between countries rather than smearing other countries and stirring up trouble".
The first purchase of seafood by the U.S. under the scheme involves just shy of a metric ton of scallops, a tiny fraction of more than 100,000 tons of scallops that Japan exported to mainland China last year.
Emanuel said the purchases - which will feed soldiers in messes and aboard vessels as well as being sold in shops and restaurants on military bases - will increase over time to all types of seafood. The U.S. military had not previously bought local seafood in Japan, he said.
The U.S. could also look at its overall fish imports from Japan and China, he said. The U.S. is also in talks with Japanese authorities to help direct locally-caught scallops to U.S.-registered processors.
Emanuel, who was former U.S. President Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, has in recent months made a series of blunt statements on China, taking aim at various issues including its economic policies, opaque decision-making and treatment of foreign firms.
That has come as top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have visited Beijing in an effort to draw a line under strained ties.
Asked if he considered himself hawkish on China, Emanuel rejected the term and said he was a "realist".
"I don't consider it hawkish but just consider it realist and honest. Maybe the honesty is painful, but it's honest," he said.
"I'm all for stability, understanding. That doesn't mean you're not honest. They're not contradictory. One of the ways you establish stability, is that you're able to be honest with each other."
He said China faced major economic challenges exacerbated by a leadership intent on turning their backs on international systems.
"The kind of loser in this is the youth of China. You now have a situation where 30% of the Chinese youth, one out of three, are unemployed. You have major cities with unfinished housing ... you have major municipalities not able to pay city workers. Why? Because China made a political decision to turn their back on a system in which they were benefiting."
The most recent official youth unemployment data from China, published in July before Beijing said it was suspending publication of the numbers, showed it jumping to a record high of 21.3%.
Emanuel said he was also keeping an eye on how China's leadership responds to the recent death of former Premier Li Keqiang, a reformist who was sidelined by President Xi Jinping.
"What's ... interesting to me, that I think is telltale, is how they will be treating his funeral and how they'll be treating comments about him," he said.
"I do think that there's kind of a section of China that sees what kind of policies he was pursuing as kind of the best of China. But that's up for China to decide."