Politics & Government

Japan’s Embassy in Beijing Threatened over Treated Water Dispute; Over 400,000 Calls Ranging from Silence to Threats

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant

By Akiko Yoshinaga / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

12:58 JST, September 21, 2023

BEIJING — The Japanese Embassy in Beijing received more than 400,000 calls between Aug. 24 and Sept. 17 after treated water began to be discharged from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Japanese government sources said Wednesday.

The callers either remained silent, or spoke in Chinese, saying such things as “I will blow up [the embassy],” according to the sources.

On Aug. 25, the day after the discharge started, the embassy received about 40,000 calls, the most in a single day. Currently, there are around 5,000 to 10,000 calls to the embassy per day.

Prior to the discharge, the embassy would typically only receive about 300 calls a day, so the increase in calls is making genuine contact to the facility difficult and interfering with embassy operations.

The embassy has reported the malicious nature of some of these calls to the Chinese public security authorities, and some people are believed to have been detained.