Tokyo again severely condemned on Tuesday the anti-Japanese acts attributed to China since the beginning of the discharge into the sea of ??the waters of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, including a brick throw against the Japanese embassy in Beijing. These facts, including a wave of phone harassment against Japanese companies and stone throwing at Japanese schools in China, are “extremely regrettable and disturbing”, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
He also confirmed that a brick was thrown at the Japanese Embassy in China. The latter, questioned on Tuesday by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on this information, confirmed that it was “generally accurate”.
“So far, there have been no demonstrations or violence […] But there are a few people, alone, who have, in front of our door […] done what you have just mentioned,” said an embassy spokesman said. These individuals were “arrested” by Chinese security forces stationed outside the embassy, ??the spokesperson said.
Asked what action Beijing would take following the incidents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday that China “always protects the safety and legitimate rights and interests of foreigners in China, in accordance with the law “.
“We urge the Japanese side to address the legitimate concerns of all parties, immediately stop the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, fully consult with neighbors and other stakeholders, and seriously dispose of nuclear contaminated water responsibly,” the spokesperson added.
At a press conference, Yoshimasa Hayashi for his part urged the Chinese government on Tuesday “to immediately take appropriate measures, including calling on its citizens to act calmly to prevent the situation from escalating, and to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals” in China.
Japan had already summoned the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo on Monday to protest against the wave of telephone harassment from China that Japanese companies apparently chosen at random have been suffering for the past few days.
The Japanese minister also called on Beijing to “provide accurate information on the treated water” from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, whose discharge into the sea began last Thursday, “rather than causing unnecessary concern to the public by providing information devoid of any scientific basis”.
China has suspended all its imports of seafood products from Japan since last week, in response to the start of the discharge of water, notably from the injections necessary to cool damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant since the 2011 tsunami in northeast Japan.
The discharge into the Pacific Ocean of water from Fukushima has been validated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Tokyo assures that it will be safe for the environment and human health. The water was treated to rid it of its radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium, then diluted with seawater before discharge into the ocean, so that its level of radioactivity did not exceed the targeted ceiling. 1,500 becquerels per litre. This is 40 times lower than the Japanese standard for this type of operation, which is common practice in the nuclear industry around the world.
Seawater tests carried out since the start of the discharge have confirmed that the level of radioactivity was in line with forecasts and did not exceed the ceiling set, according to Tepco, the plant operator, and the Japanese authorities.
Based on its own analysis, the IAEA also assured last Thursday that the level of radioactivity in the tritiated water that Japan began to evacuate was “well below” the set operational limit of 1,500 Bq/L. . In total, Japan plans to discharge more than 1.3 million m3 of tritiated water from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean until the early 2050s, according to the current schedule.
