Admin I Friday, August 35, 2023
CHINA – China’s General Administration of Customs has announced a ban on importing all seafood products from Japan due to the fact that, beginning on August 24, the Japanese authorities began discharging accumulated water used for cooling the Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) into the Pacific Ocean, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Beijing also vowed to “dynamically adjust relevant regulating measures as necessary in order to prevent the threat of discharged water polluted with nuclear elements to human health and the safety of food products.”
China’s ban on Japanese seafood and the general reaction to the water discharge are highly politicized, said Dmitry Streltsov, head of the Department of Asian Studies at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University).
There has not been any precedent and it is impossible to forecast the exact consequences of Japan’s move, the expert stressed. The ban on importing Japanese seafood products to China will have some repercussions for the Japanese economy, but they are hardly likely to be catastrophic, Streltsov noted, saying that the export of seafood to China is not a priority segment of Japan’s economy while Beijing has repeatedly demonstrated the flexibility of its restrictions.
Overall, Japan is very sensitive to the global reaction to its actions, but it will act in accordance with the opinion of influential Western scientists in the fields of radiation medicine, radiation security and safety, and ecology. Statements by politicians will not play any decisive role, the expert concluded.
China’s decision to ban imports is, above all, a reaction to the environmental threat created by Japan, thinks Andrey Karneyev, head of the Higher School of Economics’ (HSE University) School of Asian Studies. For many weeks, China has been objecting to Japan’s decision.
It is not surprising that Beijing is expressing a high degree of displeasure because the consequences of the discharge of polluted water affect China directly, threatening its marine resources.
