China has placed a blanket ban on all seafood imports from Japan, after it was revealed that Japan has started releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
China is “highly concerned about the risk of radioactive contamination brought by… Japan’s food and agricultural products exported to China,” Reuters reported citing a statement by a Chinese customs official.
Two years ago, the Japanese government signed an agreement that was recently approved by the United Nations‘ nuclear watchdog.
This agreement involves the release of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was severely damaged by a tsunami. The discharge is a crucial step in the lengthy and challenging process of decommissioning the plant.
The operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), announced that the discharge began without any reported issues with the seawater pump or nearby facilities at 1:03 PM. local time (04:03 GMT).
However, China has once again expressed its strong opposition to this plan. China’s government has argued that Japan has not provided sufficient evidence to justify the legitimacy of releasing this water into the ocean.
“The Japanese side should not cause secondary harm to the local people and even the people of the world out of its own selfish interests,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
In response, Tokyo has criticised China for spreading what it considers to be baseless and unsubstantiated claims.
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