BEIJING, August 7 (Xinhua)-According to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun on the 6th, several Japanese government sources revealed that the Japanese government plans to formally decide the date of discharging Fukushima nuclear polluted water into the sea after the US-Japan-ROK summit on August 18th, and the sewage discharge into the sea may start at the end of August at the earliest.
It is reported that Japanese Prime Minister kishida fumio plans to attend the US-Japan-ROK summit in the United States on August 18th, during which he will meet separately with US President Biden and South Korean President Yin Xiyue.
According to the report, Kishida plans to explain the plan of discharging nuclear polluted water from Fukushima to the sea during the meeting, and hold a meeting of relevant cabinet members after returning to Japan to formally determine the date of discharging the sea.
Officials from the Japanese Prime Minister’s official residence revealed that it will take at least a week before the date of sea discharge is decided and the sea discharge is officially started.
According to the analysis of sources, the Japanese government has repeatedly stressed that it will start the sea discharge plan in the summer of 2023. At the same time, Fukushima Prefecture will lift the ban on bottom trawling in September, and the Japanese government is trying to avoid delaying the sea discharge time until September. Based on this, it is very likely that the sea discharge plan will officially start at the end of August.
Japan’s forced discharge of pollutants into the sea has aroused strong opposition at home and abroad.
On July 31, local time, citizen groups of Japan and South Korea held a protest rally in front of the Japanese Prime Minister’s residence in Tokyo, opposing the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company’s plan to push nuclear pollution water into the sea.
On July 19th, Haruhiko Terazawa, head of the Miyagi Fishery Association of Japan, expressed strong opposition to the discharge of nuclear polluted water into the sea, saying that this would inevitably have a negative impact on Japanese fisheries.
South Korean parliamentarian Zhu Zhexuan said a few days ago: "There are other ways besides discharging the sea. Just because the cost of discharging the sea is the lowest. " He also stressed: "It is absolutely impossible to pollute the ocean as the source of life and affect other countries."
The Malaysian People’s Party recently submitted a memorandum urging the Japanese government to cancel the plan of discharging nuclear polluted water into the sea and find other ways to deal with it.
Kalinga Senaviratne, consultant of the news project of Fiji South Pacific University, said that the Japanese practice has damaged the living environment of Pacific island countries.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said recently that the legitimacy, legality and safety of the Japanese plan to discharge nuclear polluted water into the sea have been questioned by the international community. No matter how the Japanese side whitewashes the wrongs, it can’t "bleach" the plan to expel the sea. Protests from neighboring countries and doubts from all walks of life in Japan are all evidence. China urges Japan to face up to the legitimate concerns of the international community and domestic people, stop pushing the plan of discharging the sea, fully communicate with neighboring countries in a sincere manner, effectively dispose of nuclear polluted water in a responsible manner, and accept international supervision.