Resumption of Imports of Marine Products: Will It Lead to Improvement of Japan-China Relations?

Editorial

17:24 JST, September 21, 2024

Is it safe to say that China has finally dropped its scientifically baseless claims over Japanese marine products? Japan needs to carefully assess China’s next moves.

The governments of Japan and China have reportedly agreed that Beijing will gradually resume imports of Japanese marine products, after imports were stopped over the release into the ocean of treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The specifics of the agreement include the International Atomic Energy Agency expanding its monitoring of seawater, among other substances. Under this framework, Japan has given its approval for China and others to conduct their own investigations.

China had long demanded that it be allowed to collect samples separately, but Japan would not consent, since objectivity could not be guaranteed in China’s own investigation. This time, Japan probably concluded that there would be no problem, provided that the IAEA is involved.

TEPCO began releasing treated water into the Pacific Ocean in August last year. The IAEA has stated that the discharge plan is consistent with its safety standards and has since repeatedly stressed that there have been no problems with seawater and other materials in the surveys conducted after the start of the discharge.

However, China imposed a blanket ban on imports of Japanese marine products, saying their safety was questionable.

South Korea, on the other hand, announced last month that its survey of nearly 50,000 samples from its nearby waters had found not a single case that fell outside the safety standards. It is obvious that China’s claims are completely unfounded.

China’s unreasonable import ban has been an unresolved issue between Japan and China. It is commendable that Beijing has stepped forward this time and made progress toward resolving the issue.

However, even after the agreement with Japan, China is still calling the treated water “nuclear-contaminated water.” As long as Beijing continues to behave in a way that could demean Japan, it should not be fully trusted.

After the bilateral agreement was reached, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, “I understand that imports of Japanese fisheries products will steadily recover.” Domestically as well, momentum should be built for purchases of marine products from Fukushima Prefecture and other regions, and support should be extended to fisheries businesses that are suffering from declining sales.

Some observers believe that China has moved to lift the import ban because of its judgment that it is not in its own best interests to further worsen Japan-China relations.

There has been a spate of attacks on Japanese nationals in China. Regarding the recent case in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, where a schoolboy died after being stabbed by a Chinese man, no detailed explanation, such as the motive for the crime, has been provided by China.

There are many unresolved issues between China and Japan, including the coercive activities by China Coast Guard ships around the Senkaku Islands. If China does not change its self-righteous behavior, Japanese sentiment toward China will probably only worsen.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 21, 2024)