258
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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 crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

Unveiling the initiative in a Reuters interview on Monday, U.S. 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.

The U.N.’s 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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

The onus for evidence actually is on China. The UN nuclear watchdog says the water is safe. China needs to provide evidence to the contrary.

[-] cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml -3 points 1 year ago

That makes no sense. They don’t have to prove anything. If China thinks Japan has not provided the necessary information to ensure that seafood imported from Japan is safe, they can choose to stop buying Japanese seafood. Japan can negotiate and provide the evidence China is asking for if they want to continue selling seafood to Chinese customers. What’s so crazy about that?

[-] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Because this information has been provided. The UN has certified the information.

China is fully within its rights to refuse to buy the seafood nonetheless, but without additional independent analysis they have no evidence to support that decision.

[-] cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

As far as I’m aware, the information China was requesting has not been provided. The UN and the IAEA have their own criteria for determining safety that do not necessarily overlap with China’s. It also makes sense China has more stringent criteria given they would be the most impacted by contaminated seafood.

That said, I do believe it is in Japan’s economic interest to accuse China of making politically motivated decisions. Japan exports a lot of a seafood and wants to protect their reputation. If anyone thinks China has valid concerns, that could jeopardize the Japanese fishing industry.

this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
258 points (98.5% liked)

World News

39005 readers
1003 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS