Contrasting Chinese and Korean Reactions to Japan’s Fukushima Wastewater Plans

Authors: Mark Sheehan and Robert Bray

After the devastating 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant was all but destroyed, leading to a desperate effort to prevent a full blown nuclear disaster. The Japanese government has been pumping water into the power plant in order to cool the radioactive debris and prevent further nuclear meltdown. This solution has in itself generated more problems. What is to be done with the radioactive wastewater? The Japanese government has ultimately decided to dilute the amount of tritium, the element that irradiates this water, to an acceptable level and release the diluted but still radioactive water into the ocean over the course of the next 30 years.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an independent agency within the United Nations responsible for regulating the peaceful use of nuclear science and technology, has approved of Japan’s plan to dump the diluted wastewater and deemed it acceptably safe for both human and marine life in the area. However, this plan has come under fire by some in Korea and is facing major backlash from the Chinese government. 

Officially, the Korean government has accepted Japan’s plan. The dumping, however, has created discussion and protest amongst some liberals in Korea who are still worried about the health impacts of Japan’s actions, regardless of the IAEA’s approval. These critics say that the government has prioritized maintaining the increasingly positive Japanese-Korean political relationship over the health and safety of the Korean people. 

The government of China has taken a more confrontational stance, officially condemning the act and banning the importation of Japanese seafood to the country. China’s foreign ministry has claimed that, “there could be a man-made secondary disaster to the local people and the whole world if Japan chooses to dump the water into the ocean just to serve Japan’s selfish interests.” The Chinese government, unconvinced by the IAEA,  has called into question the health and safety impacts of Japan’s nuclear wastewater dumping. While their official statements have focused on the safety concerns, this may just be another opportunity to leverage economic power to punish the Japanese government for their apathetic reaction to World War II era atrocities and greater alignment with the United States’ plans in the Indo-Pacific. Is this reaction rooted in a sense of genuine concern for health and safety? Or is it just another rhetorical blow in a century-long struggle between diametrically opposed Pacific powers?

This issue will continue to influence Japan’s relationships with its neighbors since it is planning on releasing radioactive wastewater three more times between now and March of 2024 and will likely pursue further disposal operations in the decades to come. It will be important to see whether or not any health complications are documented as a result of the dumping in the ocean and if Korean or Chinese citizens and businesses are affected despite international assurances of safety. Either way, the wastewater dumping issue is a continuation of tenuous relations between China and Japan and is an example of China using economic power as leverage against a historic adversary and preeminent rival within the Pacific sphere.