【Article/Observer Network Columnist Yang Sheng】
In stark contrast to Japan's decision to discharge wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear accident to the Pacific Ocean, the United States, which must be affected by the discharge, not only did not exert its binding force to stop Japan, but also thanked Japan for its so-called "transparency" and "efforts" and vividly interpreted a "complicating atmosphere."
In the field of international public opinion, this matter has indeed attracted considerable attention, many mainstream media have reported on it, most of them have presented the concerns of all parties and Japan's own defense, the European media is relatively more objective, more prominent this matter has caused concerns in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and put the Defense of the Japanese Government and TEPCO in a relatively passive response and explanation position.
Mainstream media in the United States, such as The New York Times and CNN, are more focused on the "difficulties" of the Japanese government, emphasizing japan's various pressures on the storage and treatment of wastewater, and also pointing out the related efforts made by TEPCO to treat these wastewaters. Although they also pointed out the concerns of some civil society and international organizations about Japan's decision and the opposition in Japan, and also mentioned the concerns and strong doubts expressed by Asian countries such as China and South Korea, but more of a perspective on the outside.
Some U.S. fisheries industry-related websites have introduced the impact of this sewage discharge on the United States, but this information about the food safety and ecological environment of the American public has not been moved to the American public by the mainstream media in the United States, and it seems that they really gave the right to think to the U.S. government, giving up the independence that the U.S. media has been self-proclaiming, and representing the attitude of the United States by Secretary of State Blinken's gratitude to Japan. In addition, the US media also likes to highlight the endorsement of Japan by the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA.
In the Twitter world, which plays an important role in the international public opinion field, those big Vs who hang on the lips of human rights and environmental protection all day long have also kept a low profile, such as environmental protection small net red Tunbery only forwarded a news report, did not make any value judgments, and a large number of netizens from all over the world questioned her in the comment area, and they are curious about why this little girl who calls for environmental protection in a daily high profile is so kind to Japan? Why silence on an event whose merits are so obvious?
Japan discharged nuclear sewage into the sea, and environmental girl Thunberg only retweeted a tweet
There are also international organizations that criticize Japan, such as Greenpeace, which points out that the Japanese government's decision "completely ignores the human rights and interests of the people of Fukushima and even the whole of Japan and the entire Asia-Pacific region", but this voice is not at all an order of magnitude compared to the recent rumors in the Western world about the "human rights issue" in Xinjiang.
Many netizens are curious, if this kind of thing happens in China or other non-Western countries, how will the Western media report it? People with good memories should not forget their pathological psychology of chasing After China with the issue of the traceability of the new crown virus, as well as the ridicule and schadenfreude of China in the early days of the new crown epidemic, as well as the narrative method that is biased against the Chernobyl incident in the Soviet Union.
But one thing is very similar, whether it is the COVID-19 epidemic or the Fukushima nuclear wastewater, whether it is a serious reminder to China or a public relations statement to Japan, the Western world seems to be inclined to take an attitude of not caring about itself first.
By observing this phenomenon, we can clearly see that the attitude of the countries of the world to this event is basically consistent with their relations with Japan, rather than being distinguished by the degree of impact. According to the direction of the currents, North America was actually affected earlier than many other Asia-Pacific countries, but the United States chose not to criticize or even thank Japan. As a special influence on Japan, the United States is not willing to choose to do justice for all mankind, including its own allies, but works with Japan to make political transactions and make political judgments that draw ideological lines on matters related to the health of all mankind and global ecological security.
Behind this lies an extremely pathological international order, that is:
As long as you are a country that is subservient to the hegemony of the United States, as long as you are willing to betray considerable strategic interests to the United States, then you can do something that risks the world, does not know what harm it will bring to all mankind, and is not condemned or even thanked;
Conversely, if your development is considered by the United States to be inconsistent with its hegemonic interests, then all your legitimate development rights, efforts to maintain your own security, and even your contribution to regional security and world peace will be smeared as a "violation of human rights" or a violation of the "international order."
The logic of the operation of this order did not begin today, it has been around since the United States began to dominate the international order, only this time it has been exposed particularly thoroughly.
China, South Korea, ASEAN, Russia and other sober-minded countries in the Asia-Pacific region should make good use of this incident to promote the reform of this order, or at least promote the establishment of a new order on environmental issues. Although other countries other than the United States cannot stop Japan from insisting on going its own way, countries should explore how to effectively monitor Japan under the United Nations and the relevant international law system.
Since this kind of behavior is unprecedented, if an international lawsuit is to be launched, the impact of Japan's sewage discharge on the natural ecology needs to have solid and strong evidence to be established, and countries should begin to prepare for the tracking of wastewater flows and the monitoring and study of related ecological impacts, even if it cannot prevent Japan's pollution discharge, it can also make Japan face strong international pressure for a long time and pay its due price, so as to further force it to change its thinking to explore a more appropriate and more caring solution that takes into account the interests of other countries, so as to achieve the purpose of remedying the stop loss as much as possible.
Simulation of the speed and effects of the spread of nuclear effluent by German marine scientific research. Source: GEOMAR
This incident also shows that japan's public relations ability is indeed very strong, and the Japanese government and TEPCO have made a decision that is obviously to make itself spend less money and make the world pay together as a scientific decision that has been given the green light by the IAEA. In fact, the IAEA report is more cautiously worded than Japan advertises, and the IAEA does not have the authority to give Japan the green light on an issue that requires the full participation of countries in monitoring and consultation. To put it more, Japan has a very special influence in the IAEA, and the former secretary general of the organization, Amano Nobuya, is a senior Japanese diplomat in charge of nuclear non-proliferation, who reigned for 10 years from 2009 until his death in 2019, and the organization has tended to take a friendly stance toward Japan on nuclear-related issues.
As IAEA's chief secretary for 10 years, Amano no Ya, courtesy of Wikipedia
The Japanese government's public relations efforts are somewhat surprising, and in order to promote the safety of TEPCO's wastewater treatment, it even made an anime image of tritium, a radioactive substance, to comfort the Japanese people. Some Japanese netizens joked that it would be better to replace this anime image with the head of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
"Kisshoji-kun" like "Tritium-kun"
Unfortunately, Suga, whose acting skills are not good, lacks the spirit of sacrifice, and during the inspection of Fukushima, he was stunned to take the bottle of "treated water" for half a day and did not dare to open the lid to drink, giving up a good public relations opportunity. Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso maintained the same image of a big mouth as always, claiming that it was okay to drink, causing a group of netizens to laugh, "Since it is okay to drink, why not directly turn into drinking water for the Japanese to drink, why should it be discharged?" ”
This set of public relations in Japan is actually very marketable in some of China's self-media, some may be ignorant, and some may be fundamentally a matter of position. Their fundamental disagreement with the mainstream perception of public opinion in our country has nothing to do with science, but in fact lies in whether they are willing to believe the data and explanations provided by Japan. When I communicate with some friends who study natural sciences, I also found that some people are not as angry about this matter as the public, simply put, according to the trend of the ocean currents, Our country is not the first to bear the brunt, and it should be nervous in North America, and the vast Pacific Ocean can indeed dilute these sewage to a state of near nothing, do not worry too much.
Here we need to answer a core question, Japan has repeatedly covered up the Fukushima nuclear issue, so why should we believe them this time? What exactly is being discharged, whether it is up to the emitters themselves or by all stakeholders working together to monitor and test? Moreover, even if emissions may end up having little real impact on everyone, is this behavior acceptable? Do you even want to thank it? So isn't it important to encourage everyone to do that?
In doing so, Japan made a very bad start and declared its status as a "nuclear victim" bankrupt. This time, we can no longer be led by the nose, but have to fight back.
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