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(Satirical cartoon created by AI creator )

“The ocean is humanity’s common good, not Japan’s private sewer, ” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a news briefing on June 7, 2023.

According to Japanese media, a report recently released by TEPCO shows that the radioactive element Cs-137 in black rockfish caught in the harbor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan in May this year far exceeds safety levels, reaching 18,000 Bq/kg, 180 times that of the standard maximum stipulated in Japan’s food safety law.

“The Japanese government has repeatedly sought to whitewash its discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, claiming the water to be harmless and the discharge to be justified and calling it the only option. Yet facts prove otherwise, ” Wang said.

“Many in the international community have been asking: If the nuclear-contaminated water were indeed as safe as Japan says, why doesn’t Japan discharge it into its inland lakes; why has Japan insisted on building the discharge tunnel and eagerly launched it? The answer from Japan’s own expert committee is quite straightforward: discharge into the sea is the cheapest option with minimum risk of polluting Japan itself, ” He said.

Wang said, to dump the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean is "extremely selfish and irresponsible to let the whole world bear the cost and save money for Japan itself."