[1/2]Fishing boats are anchored at a fishing port in Soma, 45 km from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Get license rights
Tokyo, Sep 5 Japan has told the World Trade Organization that China’s ban on Japanese seafood after the release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant is completely unacceptable. said Late Monday.
In a counterargument to China’s Aug. 31 notification to the WTO on its measures to halt Japanese aquatic imports that began last month, Japan said it would explain its position in relevant WTO committees and urged China to immediately rescind the measure.
Some Japanese officials have signaled that the country may file a WTO complaint, which the US ambassador to Japan said last week the US would support.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Tuesday that Japan will make presentations on the safety of released water at diplomatic forums, including the ASEAN summit in Indonesia and the G20 summit in India this month.
Matsuno, Tokyo’s top government spokesman, added that „nothing has been decided about the Japan-China leaders’ meeting. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend the ASEAN and G20 summits, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is skipping both.”
Separately Report On Monday, Tokyo’s foreign ministry asked Japan and China to hold discussions on the import ban based on the provisions of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement.
Although marine products account for less than 1% of Japan’s global trade, dominated by cars, Japan exported about $600 million worth of aquatic products to China in 2022, followed by Hong Kong as the largest market for Japanese exports.
Data on Tuesday showed exports of aquatic products to China fell for the first time in 2 1/2 years in July, down 23% year-on-year to 7.7 billion yen ($52.44 million).
Since Japan announced plans to discharge treated Fukushima water, goods bound for China have faced tougher checks, causing exports to decline.
To ease the pain of losing that seafood demand, Japan will spend 100 billion yen ($682 million) to support its domestic fishing industry.
($1 = 146.8300 yen)
Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jerry Doyle
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