On September 20, China and Japan reached a consensus on the issue of nuclear-contaminated water, and Japan agreed that China would independently conduct sampling monitoring and data collection on the discharge of nuclear sewage into the sea.
This is a major diplomatic victory for China after nearly a year of rounds of consultations and games between the two countries.
This is of great significance to the concern of the world, especially Japan's neighboring countries, about the nuclear-contaminated water - through China's independent testing, a reliable safety conclusion can be obtained, rather than leaving Japan to talk to itself.
However, it is still questionable whether Japan's aquatic products can enter China.
The consensus reached between China and Japan does not mean that China will immediately resume the import of aquatic products from Japan.
Judging from the announcement issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the headline is "China and Japan reach consensus on the issue of discharging nuclear contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea" rather than "China and Japan reach consensus on whether China will resume importing Japan's aquatic products."
Secondly, from the content point of view, the second point is clearly written: China conducts independent sampling and monitoring; Fourth, China will adjust the relevant measures based on scientific evidence and gradually resume the import of aquatic products from Japan that meets the regulations.
What is the core of "consensus"? That is, China can independently sample and monitor the nuclear-contaminated water discharged into the sea by Japan, and if China's requirements are fully met, Japan's aquatic products that meet the standards will be gradually restored.
Prior to this, Japan unilaterally started the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea from August 24, 2023, despite strong opposition from the international community. So far, Japan has carried out eight discharges, with a total discharge of about 63,000 tons.
At present, 1.31 million tons of nuclear-contaminated water are still stored in containers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, and it will take at least 30 years to complete all of them.
There has been a huge controversy about the safety of nuclear-contaminated water in Japan. Whether the pretreatment of nuclear-contaminated water has reached the standard of safe discharge has been in a black box, and the outside world has no way of knowing.
In addition, Japan has continuously exposed negative news about long-term systematic fraud by well-known large enterprises in the past decade, and finally the person in charge of the enterprise bowed and apologized, which made neighboring countries have a deep sense of distrust towards Japan.
Last year, Japan announced that it would start discharging pollution into the sea, relying heavily on a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The report said that after water sample testing, Japan's plan to discharge nuclear sewage into the sea "generally meets safety standards."
However, the outside world pointed out that the report has two fatal problems:
First, the water samples used for testing were not taken by IAEA, but provided by the Japan government and TEPCO, which greatly reduced credibility;
Second, Japan's entire sewage plan will last for 30 years, but the purification equipment used has not undergone large-scale market experiments, and it is completely unknown whether it can support such a long period of operation. In other words, even if the emissions are qualified now, there may be problems in the future.
In addition, the impartiality of the IAEA has been questioned by the international community. Last year, Korea media broke the news that "IAEA accepted a bribe of 1 million euros from the Japanese side to revise the final report." In addition, it was also revealed that the IAEA had received 3 billion yen in "aid" from the Japanese side, and so on.
Even the IAEA itself issued a report in March admitting that the main role of the Fukushima office was to "observe" and "witness" the discharge of the sea by TEPCO and the Japan Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and did not personally send technical personnel to participate in the testing process.
Japan has long adopted a "self-inspection" approach. On August 26 last year, the Japan Fisheries Agency released data saying that after the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water discharge was launched on the 24th, "no detected" radioactive element tritium was detected in fish samples caught within 5 kilometers of the discharge port, but the samples only had two fish, not to mention that tritium entered the fish, which could take longer.
Korea has sent a delegation of experts to visit the Fukushima nuclear power plant discharge site. However, after the experts arrived, they were not allowed to enter the site to take samples at all, and could only look at the test reports of the Japanese side and the IAEA within a limited time.
Why, then, did Japan finally agree to China's independent sampling and testing?
This is the result of China's unremitting struggle for more than a year.
Over the past year, China and Japan have held more than 10 rounds of intensive talks and consultations.
As early as November last year, China had already offered a solution, that is, the Chinese side should effectively participate, take long-term samples, and independently test the safety of the nuclear-contaminated water, but the Japanese side has been refusing China's request under various pretexts. The Japanese side also proposed that China join the IAEA investigation team, but the Chinese side did not agree.
In the end, the Japanese side still couldn't bear it. Because, the Japanese side really can't sell aquatic products.
From August 24, 2023, the General Administration of Customs of China has decided to completely suspend the import of aquatic products (including edible aquatic animals) originating in Japan.
Chinese mainland is Japan's largest overseas market for aquatic products, accounting for 22.5% of the total, followed by Hong Kong, China, with 20%, and the bans on these two places are a major blow to Japan's fishing industry. In the second half of last year, Japan's exports of aquatic products to China fell to zero.
The livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Japanese fishermen have also been affected by the ban, and Japan agricultural and fishery companies are eager to return to the Chinese market.
This led to intensified protests against the Japanese government in Japan, and the Japanese government had to take a series of measures to respond to domestic and foreign pressure, and finally agreed to China's request for independent sampling and testing of Fukushima nuclear contaminated water.
However, this does not mean that China will immediately resume full import of aquatic products from Japan. We stress that there has been no change in our stance against the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, and that the timing of the resumption of imports of aquatic products still needs to be determined based on the test results.
At present, the detection method of Fukushima nuclear contaminated water has not been approved by Chinese experts. The nuclear-contaminated water contains more than 60 radionuclides, such as tritium, carbon-14, iodine-129, etc., many of which have no effective treatment technology, but Japan has been misleading that "the problem is only tritium".
In fact, carbon-14 has a half-life of more than 5,000 years, and iodine-129 has an even longer half-life. Carbon-14 accumulates in marine organisms, known as fish, and can be up to 50 times more abundant or concentrated than tritium.
Based on the current level of monitoring and scientific knowledge, even if some data results show "safe" now, there is no guarantee that it will be absolutely safe in the future.
Therefore, China's testing will increase the number of radionuclides tested in addition to tritium. In addition, China's testing items will also cover the safety of the discharge facilities and all aspects of the sea.
This time, the Japanese side has shown an attitude that it has never seen before, and has promised to act in strict accordance with its obligations under international law and to do everything possible to minimize the impact of the discharge of nuclear sewage on the environment and people. Kishida has spoken with IAEA Director General Grossi about China's arrangements to send personnel to the Fukushima nuclear power plant to test the nuclear-contaminated water.
China's ban on the import of Japan's aquatic products is only a means, not an end, and our purpose is to prevent Japan from discharging substandard, protect the world's environmental security, and protect our common home.
In the next step, China and Japan will discuss the types of monitored nuclides, detection methods and other technical details, so as to achieve comprehensive, effective and credible long-term international monitoring and ensure the safety and transparency of nuclear wastewater treatment.
But then again, we still have to put a question mark on the integrity of Japan, especially TEPCO.
After all, this company has lied too many times since 2011. Can they really cooperate with China's testing to ensure the safety of the discharge? I'm afraid we have to listen to his words and watch his deeds.