US backs Japan against China’s Fukushima stance with sushi and sake

‘They don’t know what they’re missing,’ says House committee chairman as members dine on Japanese seafood at Washington event

Chinese ban over waste water safety concerns ‘built on a foundation of falsehoods’

Reading Time:2 minutes

China’s ban on Japanese seafood in response to the release of waste water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant prompted a “sushi and sake” night in Washington. Photo: AP

Published: 2:00pm, 19 Sep 2023Updated: 4:45pm, 19 Sep 2023

The US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party opened its latest volley against Beijing in an unusual setting on Monday: a “sushi and sake” night on Capitol Hill, co-hosted by the Japanese embassy in Washington.

China was one of several countries to criticise Japan’s decision to start releasing around 30 years’ worth of treated radioactive waste from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on August 24, and immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood into the country over safety concerns.

Mike Gallagher, a Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the committee, called Beijing’s actions “nothing more than economic coercion directed at Japan designed to hurt Japan’s economy”.

China’s ban was “built on a foundation of falsehoods” about the safety of Japanese seafood, he said during the event that featured sushi made with fish imported from Japan.

On the same day, Chinese customs data was released showing that China’s seafood imports from Japan decreased 67.6 per cent from a year earlier in August.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that the treated waste from Fukushima would have a “negligible” impact on people and the environment and that Japan’s actions were “consistent with relevant international safety standards”.