US military starts bulk buying Japanese seafood to counter China’s ban following Fukushima waste water release

The first purchase of seafood under the scheme involves just shy of a tonne of scallops – a tiny fraction of what Japan exported to China last year
Washington plans to use the seafood to feed soldiers in messes and aboard vessels. It will also be sold in shops and restaurants on military bases

Japan

Reuters

Published: 1:02pm, 31 Oct 2023

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The United States has started bulk buying Japanese seafood to supply its military there in response to China’s ban on such products imposed after Tokyo released treated water from its destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

Unveiling the initiative in an interview on Monday, US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said Washington should also look more broadly into how it could help offset China’s ban that he said was part of its “economic wars”.

China, which had been the biggest buyer of Japanese seafood, says its ban is due to food safety fears.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s facility for diluting and discharging treated radioactive water is seen in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, earlier this year. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog vouched for the safety of the water release that began in August from the plant wrecked by a 2011 tsunami. G7 trade ministers on Sunday called for the immediate repeal of bans on Japanese food.

“It’s going to be a long-term contract between the US armed forces and the fisheries and co-ops here in Japan,” Emanuel said.

“The best way we have proven in all the instances to kind of wear out China’s economic coercion is come to the aid and assistance of the targeted country or industry.”

G7 calls for Japanese food bans to be ‘immediately’ lifted after China’s curbs

Asked about Emanuel’s comments at a press conference on Monday, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said: “the responsibility of diplomats is to promote friendship between countries rather than smearing other countries and stirring up trouble”.

The first purchase of seafood by the US under the scheme involves just shy of a tonne of scallops, a tiny fraction of more than 100,000 tonnes of scallops that Japan exported to mainland China last year.

Emanuel said the purchases – which will feed soldiers in messes and aboard vessels as well as being sold in shops and restaurants on military bases – will increase over time to all types of seafood. The US military had not previously bought local seafood in Japan, he said.

The US could also look at its overall fish imports from Japan and China, he said. The US is also in talks with Japanese authorities to help direct locally-caught scallops to US-registered processors.

US envoy to Japan derides China for stand on Fukushima waste water release

Emanuel, who was former US President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff, has in recent months made a series of blunt statements on China, taking aim at various issues including its economic policies, opaque decision-making and treatment of foreign firms.

That has come as top US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have visited Beijing in an effort to draw a line under strained ties.