China Leads Opposition to Japan's Fukushima Water Release

Japan's decision to release diluted waste water from the ruined Fukushima nuclear reactor has sparked a prolonged campaign of condemnation, led by China, with the Japanese Embassy in Beijing allegedly attacked by a brick on Tuesday.

Hayashi Yoshimasa, Japan's foreign minister, said the brick was thrown at its embassy in the Chinese capital while Japanese nationals in China were also targets of harassment. Chinese state media said Chinese diplomatic missions in Japan had also been harassed.

China has been a vocal opponent of the release of the reactor water, despite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stating the process meets international standards. The Chinese government banned all Japanese seafood imports after Tokyo began the process last Thursday.

The two governments marked half a century of formal diplomatic relations last year, but the new dispute has introduced additional friction to the China-Japan relationship on top of Tokyo's decision to publicly side with treaty ally the United States in what Beijing calls a strategy of encirclement.

Neighboring countries including Russia and South Korea said they would increase their maritime inspections in the wake of the release, but no import restrictions were announced.

Hayashi said embassy staff had received numerous abusive calls in the past days.

"It is extremely regrettable and worrying. We would like to urge the Chinese government again to take appropriate measures immediately, such as 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 residents and our diplomatic missions in China," Japan's top diplomat said.

The state-owned China Daily reported Tuesday that Wu Jianghao, Beijing's top envoy in Tokyo, lodged "solemn representations of the nuisance suffered by the Chinese embassy and consulates in Japan," alleging similar treatment by the Japanese public.

China's embassy and consulates had "received a large number of harassing phone calls from Japan, which has seriously disrupted their normal operations," Wu reported said.

The waste water release, coming more than 12 years after the earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan, has played out in dramatic fashion on social media too, with members of the Chinese fishing industry fearing for their livelihoods, and others shouting down the telephone at strangers in Fukushima over the matter.

The local mayor's office in Fukushima, the capital of the prefecture of the same name, said it received 200 abusive calls in two days.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, in a videoconference with Japan's Hayashi on August 25, said the U.N.'s nuclear energy authority's recent sampling of the Fukushima discharge verified that levels of the radioactive material tritium were far below operational limits of 1,500 becquerels per liter.

"We'll continue independent sampling and monitoring until completion. We'll be there until the last drop is discharged," Grossi said.

The Japanese government was reportedly preparing to challenge the legality of China's seafood ban at the World Trade Organization.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster happened in March 2011, when a tsunami triggered by the magnitude-9 Tohoku earthquake caused the plant to lose power and go into several meltdowns.

The diluted water, enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, will be slowly released over the next 30 years via an underwater tunnel, according to the government's plan. The first discharge, totaling 7,800 cubic meters, was to be released over 17 days.

The radiation levels in seawater around South Korea were within safe ranges following Japan's release of contaminated water, Seoul's oceans ministry said. Tests on four locations showed levels of cesium and tritium remained below the standard set by the World Health Organization for drinking water, it said.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, addressed the anti-Japanese sentiment during a daily briefing on Tuesday.

"China protects and ensures the safety and lawful rights and interests of foreign nationals in China in accordance with laws. In disregard of the international community's strong criticism and opposition, the Japanese government unilaterally started releasing the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, which has sparked indignation over the world. This is the root cause of the current situation," Wang said.

"In response to Japan's extremely selfish and irresponsible wrong act, China and other stakeholders have the right and responsibility to take legitimate, reasonable and necessary preventive measures to safeguard the marine environment, food safety and people's health," he said.

The IAEA did not return an emailed request for comment before publication.