Can Japan, China resolve ‘deeply politicised’ Fukushima water issue? Experts say neither side able to back down
- Accepting Japan’s position of compliance with IAEA standards would make China seem it is capitulating to Tokyo given its earlier tough stance, analysts say
- With Chinese experts reportedly demanding more in-depth water assessment, Japanese officials say they sense ‘no will on the Chinese side’ to ease tensions
The bickering between Japan and China over the release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant has continued on the sidelines of the three-way summit in Seoul with South Korea, with analysts suggesting that neither government is able to back down.
“The issue has become deeply politicised and neither side can afford to step back,” said Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Tokyo.
“Japan’s position is that it has complied with IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] guidelines on data from the plant and been open in sharing that information, so it should not have to do more to please China,” he told This Week in Asia.
China was unable to accept that position “if it cannot get something in return”, Hinata-Yamaguchi said, as that would look to a domestic audience suspiciously like it was capitulating to Tokyo after taking a resolutely firm line on the issue.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held discussions on a number of issues with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Seoul on Sunday, during which he “demanded” that Beijing immediately lift a ban on imports of Japanese marine products, Japanese media reported.
The ban was implemented in August last year, shortly before water from the power plant – where three reactors suffered meltdowns in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami – was released into the Pacific. Japan insists that the water has been treated and contains levels of radionuclides that are below international standards set by the IAEA.
Chinese state-run media reported that Li referred to the water as being “nuclear-contaminated”, which Tokyo disputed. Li added that the release of the water was a matter of concern for all of humanity and called on Japan to “earnestly fulfil its responsibilities and obligations”, China Central Television reported.
The two governments set up a panel of experts in January, two months after Kishida made a similar request to lift the ban on seafood imports to Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November. Discussions within the group have not, however, progressed smoothly.
The Yomiuri reported on Sunday that the Chinese experts had “demanded” that Japan expand its environmental assessment of areas close to the plant and provide details on levels of radiation in soil and the amount of radioactive contaminants in water before it underwent treatment.
Japan responded that it had been meeting all the requirements and standards set by the IAEA and declined the request. An effort to arrange a meeting between the two nations’ foreign ministers in earlier this month fell through as no agreement could be reached on the water issue.
A government official told the Yomiuri, “We feel no will on the Chinese side to make progress on the issue of treated water.”
Hinata-Yamaguchi said it was likely that Tokyo had considered acceding to the Chinese requests, as doing so would then leave Beijing with no “excuses” to continue to ban imports of Japanese maritime products.
“But that could easily be perceived as Japan climbing down in the face of Chinese pressure, while Tokyo is also concerned that Beijing will simply move the goalposts and come up with another reason not to comply,” he said. “And Japan also takes the position that it cannot start making exceptions for some countries.”
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Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, agreed that both sides appeared to have backed themselves into corners that were tricky to navigate out of.
“Both sides can be criticised – and I see plenty of Chinese tourists here eating sushi with no apparent effects, but I think it will be hard to imagine they will be able to find a solution.”
With the two sides having a “long history” of arguing about history, territory and countless other issues, Kingston feared the water from the nuclear plant had already become an entrenched issue that would be used to score geopolitical points for years to come.
“The two sides are banging their heads together over this and I don’t see the head-banging coming to a halt any time soon,” he said.
