Japan Press Weekly

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2023 August 23 - 29 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Koike: Kishida gov’t should stop ocean discharge of Fukushima water and hold consultations with Chinese gov’t

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira on August 28, when asked by the press in the Diet building, made a comment on the Chinese government’s response to Japan’s release of Alps-treated radiation-tainted water into the ocean from Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Koike said, “The Japanese government and TEPCO have promised ‘not to dispose the water without consent from all parties concerned’. The government should have seriously worked to obtain agreement from local fishermen. It also should have provided an explanation and made diplomatic efforts to form a consensus among neighboring countries. It is the Japanese government’s responsibility to appropriately handle the situation. In order to achieve this, it should stop the ocean discharge and hold consultations with the Chinese government.”

After Japan began discharging Fukushima water, the Chinese government imposed a total ban on imports of Japanese marine products. In addition, Japanese schools in China have been experiencing harassment.

Regarding this issue, Koike said, “The Japanese and Chinese governments should work to de-escalate the situation and settle the matter through diplomatic negotiations in a cool-headed manner.”

Past related article:
> JCP Koike: Ocean release of ALPS-treated water will be breach of promise [August 20 & 22, 2023]