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International community cannot tolerate Japan’s nuclear-contaminated water dumping: Global Times editorial

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10 months ago

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Japan is making final preparations for dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea. According to local media reports, Japan’s nuclear regulator finished inspecting a newly completed system to release radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea, presenting a posture that everything is ready. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will visit Japan from Tuesday to Friday, and the IAEA’s final assessment report on Japan’s dumping plan will soon be released. Will Grossi’s attitude, or the IAEA’s final assessment, change Japan’s decision to dump wastewater into the sea? It seems unlikely.

In fact, the Japanese side officially approved the dumping plan as early as July 22 last year. Since then, it has been working intensively on implementing the plan. At the same time, it has been spending a lot of effort on public relations, never taking seriously of the strong concerns at home and abroad, and failing to conduct adequate and well-intentioned consultations with stakeholders. And the IAEA is being targeted by the Japanese side as a priority in networking. Although the organization cannot give Japan a “license” and a “talisman” for dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, the Japanese side may make an issue of how the IAEA writes its assessment report and draws its conclusions.

We still urge the IAEA to uphold the principles of objectivity, professionalism and impartiality, develop an assessment report that can stand the test of science and history, and not endorse the Japanese side’s dumping plan. Tokyo’s calculation is to force the international community to accept that what’s done is done. Japan hopes that after resisting the pressure for some time, perhaps the international community’s attention will turn to other areas, and the opposition to dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea will weaken. We cannot let such a scheme succeed.

Now we need to be particularly vigilant that some governments and the Japanese side have reached a political deal over the issue of the wastewater dumping plan, which is a colluded betrayal of the public interest of mankind and marine ecology. Washington was the first to give Tokyo the green light for geopolitical reasons and then persuaded its other allies. The South Korean government has also started to release ambiguous messages frequently despite strong opposition from the public. To dispel the public’s doubts, some lawmakers from the South Korean ruling party even went to the seafood market in groups to drink seawater from the breeding pond, and “even the fish in the pond found it ridiculous.” Some European governments have also relaxed their attitude over the issue.

There have been concerns, objections, and questions about the discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea from ASEAN countries, Pacific Island countries, and others including Japan. Although the US and Japanese governments have tried to marginalize such voices, they have never disappeared. China’s position as a major power is clear and has remained unchanged. The discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea is a matter of common interest for the international community, not a private matter for Japan. So China urges the Japanese side to stop pushing forward with the dumping plan, effectively dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a scientific, safe and transparent manner, and accept strict international supervision. This is a voice from a scientific and all-human perspective, which is justified and couldn’t be alone.

In order to promote the safety of seafood from Fukushima, the Japanese government once attempted to use Fukushima’s seafood in the meals of primary and secondary schools in the prefecture. However, all schools in Fukushima prefecture rejected this proposal. According to reports, content of Cs-137 in fish recently caught in the harbor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is 180 times that of the standard maximum stipulated in Japan’s food safety law, which is extremely alarming.

In this situation, claiming that the contaminated wastewater is safe is nothing but a lie. As officials from Pacific island countries have said, if the so-called “treated water” meets the standards and can be discharged, why doesn’t Japan use this contaminated wastewater in its own country, especially in its agricultural sector?

Japan does have other more appropriate choices. The Japanese government has considered five different treatment options, but it ultimately chose the cheapest and easiest one, which is to discharge the contaminated wastewater into the ocean. From a technical standpoint, this is the solution with the lowest economic cost to Japan, but it releases the highest amount of radioactive substances into the global environment. Japan is unwilling to spend money on safely treating the contaminated wastewater but is willing to invest in public relations. According to recent reports from South Korean media, Japanese officials made political donations worth over EUR 1 million to the staff of the IAEA Secretariat and there has been no response to this matter so far.

According to a German marine scientific research institute, with the world’s strongest currents along the coast of Fukushima, radioactive materials could spread to most of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days from the date of discharge. However, Japan has failed to provide a comprehensive and systematic monitoring plan for the disposal of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea. The current monitoring scope is small, with few sampling points and low frequency, making it difficult to timely detect abnormal situations such as discharging pollutants in levels that exceed the stipulated standards. In short, Japan’s forceful disposal of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea is illegal and violates a series of international legal obligations, constituting a crime against all of humanity. China and the international community’s forces of justice stand together against such behavior and will never compromise or tolerate it.

Source(s): Global Times

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Talks between Israel, Egyptian delegation over Gaza ceasefire reportedly ‘very good’

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Published

13 hours ago

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27/04/2024

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Negotiations over Israel’s upcoming offensive in the Gaza Strip’s southernmost city of Rafah and efforts to achieve a ceasefire deal with Hamas were “very good” between Israeli officials and a high-level Egyptian delegation, media and sources said Friday.

The negotiations were “very good, focused, held in good spirits and progressed in all parameters,” a senior Israeli official told Israeli media Ynet.

“In the background, there are very serious intentions from Israel to move ahead in Rafah,” and the Egyptians are willing to exert pressure on Hamas to achieve a deal, the official was quoted as saying.

According to the Israeli official, Israel made a warning that it would not agree to foot-dragging by Hamas on the hostage deal to delay the military operation in Rafah, and he also mentioned that Israel had deployed reserve soldiers to the Gaza Strip.

According to Channel 12, the official added that Israel is prepared to make more “significant compromises,” such as permitting the evacuation of Gazan civilians in northern Gaza and removing its troops from a crucial corridor that divides Gaza.

Meanwhile, Egypt reportedly sent a high-level delegation, led by senior intelligence official Abbas Kamel, to Israel on Friday with the hope of brokering a ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza.

Considerable progress has been achieved in bringing the views of the Egyptian and Israeli delegations closer together regarding reaching a truce in Gaza, Egypt’s Al-Qahera News TV reported.

In addition, two high-ranking Egyptian security officials confirmed to Xinhua news agency that the talks discussed Egypt’s “rescue initiative,” which aims to prevent any more escalations in the Strip and avoid the invasion of Rafah.

On Thursday, Israeli media reported that the country is expected to “soon” begin evacuating civilians from Rafah ahead of a planned ground attack.

Earlier Thursday, Israel’s wartime cabinet and security cabinet convened to discuss a possible assault on Rafah, a city previously considered a “safe zone” from the relentless Israeli bombardments, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have found refuge.

Source(s): CGTN

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Wang Yi says China supports reconciliation among Palestinian factions

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Published

24 hours ago

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26/04/2024

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China supports internal reconciliation among different factions of Palestine through dialogue, in a written interview with Al Jazeera Media Network published on Thursday.

The interview covers questions ranging from the Gaza crisis and the Russia-Ukraine conflict to the Taiwan question and China-U.S. relations.

As for the ongoing Gaza conflict, Wang said China will continue to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with Middle East countries and the whole international community to support the just cause of the Palestinian people in restoring their legitimate national rights.

China also supports Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations at an early date and supports establishing the independent State of Palestine and realizing “the Palestinians governing Palestine,” Wang said.

“We call for a more broad-based, more authoritative and more effective international peace conference to set a timetable and a road map for the two-state solution, to promote comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question, and to ultimately realize peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine as well as harmony between the Arab and Jewish peoples,” he said.

Wang also said China is deeply concerned about the rising tensions in the Red Sea. “For quite some time, rising tensions in the Red Sea have affected important interests of regional countries, especially the littoral states. They have also heightened the overall security risk of the region and weighed on the global economic recovery.”

“We stand ready to coordinate more closely with regional countries and work together with the international community to continue with our constructive role in restoring peace and stability in the Red Sea at an early date,” Wang added.

In response to the escort mission by the Chinese Navy in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia, Wang said the mission is not related to the Red Sea situation but authorized by the UN Security Council.

Speaking of the Ukraine crisis, Wang said China’s position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent, unequivocal and transparent, while elaborating on China’s efforts to promote a ceasefire and end the fighting.

“We will work with all parties constructively to promote political settlement of the crisis, and contribute more to regional tranquility and security and enduring world peace,” said the Chinese foreign minister.

In the interview, Wang once again said Taiwan has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times, and the Taiwan question is entirely China’s internal affair.

“We will strive for peaceful reunification with the utmost effort and greatest sincerity. In the meantime, our bottom line is also clear: we will absolutely not allow anyone to separate Taiwan from China in any way,” Wang said.

Answering questions about how China sees the U.S. election and the prospects of China-U.S. relations, Wang said the U.S. election is an internal affair of the United States, and China never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries.

“The China-U.S. relationship cannot go back to its past. But it should, and can fully, have a bright future. China is ready to work with the United States to carry out more win-win cooperation, do more that benefits the whole world, and truly fulfill their respective responsibilities to the international community,” Wang said.

Source(s): CGTN

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Macron warns Europe could die of three challenges

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Published

2 days ago

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25/04/2024

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PARIS, April 25 (Xinhua) — Europe could die of three challenges it faces in security, economy and culture, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday in a speech on Europe at Sorbonne University in Paris.

Europe is in a situation of encirclement, pushed by many powers at its borders and sometimes within it, while some “uninhibited, regional powers” are showing their capabilities, he warned in a local live broadcast.

Macron also said that the European economic model as conceived today is no longer sustainable facing competition with the United States and China.

“In our Europe, our values, our culture are threatened,” he added, because Europe is experiencing “the cultural battle, the battle of the imaginary, of narratives, of values, which is increasingly delicate.”

This speech came seven years after his first speech on Europe at the university.

Source(s): Xinhua

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