The tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant yesterday began releasing its first batch of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, prompting China to ban seafood from Japan, while Taipei was not perturbed.
People inside and outside the country protested the wastewater release, with Japanese fishing groups fearing it would further damage the reputation of their seafood.
In response to the wastewater release, Chinese customs authorities banned seafood from Japan, customs authorities announced.
Photo: Kyodo / Reuters
The ban started immediately and affects all imports of “aquatic products,” including seafood, the notice said.
Chinese authorities said they would “dynamically adjust relevant regulatory measures as appropriate to prevent the risks of nuclear-contaminated water discharge to the health and food safety of our country.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said later that his government had demanded China “immediately eliminate” its import ban on seafood from Japan.
“We lodged a complaint through diplomatic channels to China, urging them to immediately eliminate” the ban, Kishida said.
The Japanese government and TEPCO say the water must be released to make room for the plant’s decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks.
They say the treatment and dilution makes the wastewater safer than international standards.
In Taipei, Executive Yuan spokesman Lin Tzu-lun (林子倫) said that irradiation of Taiwanese waters as a result of the wastewater release would be negligible.
Analyses show that wastewater would reach Taiwan within one to two years after discharge, with the greatest concentration of leftover irradiated materials expected to peak after four years, Lin said.
Additional reporting by CNA and AFP
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
RSS