Japan and China reach deal over Fukushima water release and move closer to resolving seafood ban

TOKYO (AP) — Japan and China announced Friday that they have reached a deal resolving their disputes over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean and Beijing’s subsequent ban on Japanese seafood.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that the two sides have reached “a certain level of mutual understanding” that China will start working toward easing the import ban and will join the expanded monitoring of wastewater discharges from Fukushima Daiichi under the framework of the United Nations’ atomic agency.

On Aug. 24, 2023 Japan began discharging treated radioactive wastewater from the plant, which suffered a nuclear meltdown in 2011. In response, China blocked imports of Japanese seafood, saying the release would endanger the fishing industry and coastal communities in eastern China. The ban has hit Japanese seafood exporters to China.

“Naturally, our understanding is that China will steadily resume the imports of Japanese marine products” that meet Chinese standards in the same way as other products from other countries, Kishida said.

Japanese officials described the deal as a breakthrough, but there was no immediate word on when a next monitoring visit will take place or the ban would be lifted.

Kishida stressed that the safety of the Japanese water discharges has been proven and that it will continue to demand China’s immediate lifting of the ban.

“How to properly handle the nuclear-contaminated water of Fukushima is both a political issue and scientific issue,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing on Friday.

“The bilateral consensus of China and Japan lays a foundation for the international