China has recently been lambasting Japan for discharging treated water from the disaster-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station into the ocean. China has also announced a complete ban on imports of aquatic products from Japan. Yet China’s sea, land and air are full of pollutants such as chemicals and heavy metals, and the water discharged from China’s nuclear power stations contains seven times the tritium of the water discharged from the Fukushima plant.
Food safety in China is poorly managed and its tap water is unsafe. With scandals over prohibited additives like melamine, malachite green and Sudan red, Chinese still often travel to Hong Kong to buy large quantities of everyday products, either for themselves or to resell for profit, which causes social and market disruptions in Hong Kong.
Furthermore, given China’s strict control on reporting, there is no way to know how many more food safety incidents have taken place, and the situation has not improved over the years. It is ironic for China to ban imports of Japanese aquatic products in the name of “food safety,” and the motive is clearly political.
The Japanese government has responded to public worries about radioactive tritium in the water discharged from the Fukushima plant by promising that the water has been processed through an advanced treatment system. The Japanese authorities have also taken ocean currents into account to minimize the impact on neighboring countries.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that if the water is discharged in accordance with Japanese standards, it will not cause any noticeable harm to the environment.
Given that the sea is one of the most important resources on which Japanese depend for their livelihood, and that Japan is a democracy where the government is supervised by public opinion, the Japanese government is sure to carefully protect the marine environment and would never ignore international regulations as China sometimes does.
China is using the nuclear wastewater issue to deepen anti-Japanese sentiment among the Chinese public and divert attention from its own domestic economic crisis. Yet, by sowing fear with no regard for scientific data, China might be making trouble for itself.
Reports have emerged of Chinese stocking up on cooking salt to supposedly prevent any harm from Japan’s nuclear effluent, for which there is no scientific basis whatsoever. This panic stirred up by the government might do serious damage to China’s fishing industry by causing a fall in domestic demand. As well as having an impact on the economy, it would increase the burden of food imports. Pointless panic buying and stockpiling causes social and market disruption and can only harm the public’s livelihood.
Fear-mongering is also a cognitive warfare tactic that China uses against Taiwan. Previous examples include medical masks, vaccines and US-sourced pork. With regard to the current issue of water discharged from the Fukushima plant, China is using the international prestige of certain “Hong Kong experts,” who are actually being coerced under Hong Kong ’s National Security Law, in an attempt to erode the trust that exists between Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.
Spreading rumors that threaten social stability is not freedom of speech. Taiwan’s government should respond more strongly, such as blocking access to Chinese social media like Tik Tok and Xiaohongshu, thus cutting off China’s most direct channels for spreading rumors.
Hong Tsun-ming, originally from Hong Kong, is a specialist in the Taiwan Statebuilding Party’s international section.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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