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Japanese and Chinese top envoys eye more talks on Fukushima row

Jsapan Times, BY JESSE JOHNSON, STAFF WRITER 26 Nov 23

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa met her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Saturday, with the top Japanese diplomat “strongly urging” Beijing to immediately remove its complete ban on seafood imports from Japan over Tokyo’s release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The Fukushima issue has bedeviled Sino-Japanese relations already facing tensions over issues such as China’s growing military assertiveness in the region. Despite this, both sides agreed to find a way to resolve the wastewater matter “through discussion and dialogue in a constructive manner,” Japan’s Foreign Ministry said.

Wang repeated China’s opposition to the discharge of “nuclear-contaminated water,” a move that he labeled as “irresponsible,” according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The two top diplomats also agreed to hold bilateral security talks “at an early date,”…………………………………………………………………………………………….

On Thursday, Wang met with Natsuo Yamaguchi, head of Komeito, the Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition partner in the ruling bloc, for talks in Beijing. China called for independent monitoring of the ongoing Fukushima discharge, according to Yamaguchi.

China’s seafood ban has hit Japanese exporters hard, with Chinese customs authorities reporting last week that imports of fish and shellfish from Japan in October dropped 99% from a year earlier to $332,000.  https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/11/25/japan/politics/japan-china-yoko-kamikawa-wang-yi/

November 27, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, Japan, politics international