Beijing and Hong Kong plan to expand their import restrictions on Japanese food products following Tokyo’s decision to release treated water from the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the Pacific as early as Thursday.
Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, will ban imports of fishery products from Fukushima, Tokyo and eight other prefectures from Thursday.
“The discharge will spread the risks of nuclear contamination to the rest of the world,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a news conference Tuesday.
The water from the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. plant in Fukushima is “nuclear-contaminated,” Wang emphasized. “China will take all steps necessary to protect the marine environment, ensure food safety and safeguard people’s life and health.”
On Tuesday, Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi to demand that Tokyo withdraw the decision.
Source: Nippon
