Tokyo deplorably disregards discharge anxieties: China Daily editorial

Ever since the Japanese authorities approved Tokyo Electric Power Company's plan to release nuclear contaminated water from the reactors of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean last year, there has been great concern about the environmental consequences of doing so.

Given the harmful potential to the Japanese fishing industry and local residents' livelihoods, as well as to coastal countries and regions nearby, a decision of such significance would usually entail extensive consultation and communication.

But rather than properly addressing the legitimate worries of the Japanese public and neighboring countries, who have largely been left in the dark over the trustworthiness of the treatment plan and ultimate safety standards, TEPCO and the Japanese authorities are pressing ahead anyway. Late last month, TEPCO announced the completion of the undersea pipelines that will be used to release the contaminated water into the ocean. The discharge may begin as early as July.

It is outrageously irresponsible of Japan to proceed with the plan with the safety concerns still unaddressed. Such open disregard of warranted anxiety is deplorable. On Tuesday, hundreds of Japanese citizens gathered outside TEPCO headquarters and a parliament facility to protest, and asked the government to suspend the release plan. They also demanded the government publish data of the kinds of radioactive elements and their contents, and make an alternative plan. Representatives of some environmental groups from the Republic of Korea also reportedly joined the protests in Tokyo. According to ROK media, more than 160 civic organizations held demonstrations across the country last month protesting against the Japanese release plan.

In a bid to appease opposition from the ROK, with whom Tokyo has been doing hasty diplomatic fence-mending under the United States' "Indo-Pacific" strategy, the Japanese government reached an agreement with Seoul on May 12, allowing the latter to send a 20-member delegation on an inspection tour to the Fukushima site. The agreement, if implemented well, might be conducive to sharing critical information. But with the two governments preoccupied with "bigger issues" in the region, it could well prove to be nothing more than a symbolic gesture that would not impact Japan's water release plan.

The Minjoo Party of Korea, now the biggest opposition party in the ROK, dispatched a delegation to Japan in April, which asked TEPCO to provide data about the contaminated wastewater, and tried to carry out on-site inspections. But it was only given access to government data and designated areas. According to Japanese sources, their visit was only meant to "deepen understanding", instead of to "verify safety", because Tokyo is under no obligation to accept "inspection" by another country.

If Tokyo continues that line of thinking, it is very likely the agreed trip will simply be "going through the motions", as some have warned.