By Sakura Murakami
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan called on China to approach the release of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in a scientific manner at a meeting held between Japan Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi on Friday.
China has criticised Japan’s plan to release over one million tonnes of water from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant starting this summer.
Hayashi and Wang met on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Indonesia, according to a statement released by the Japanese foreign ministry.
Hayashi said that Japan was ready to communicate with China about the water discharge from a scientific perspective, according to the statement.
The Japanese government says the water has been filtered to remove most radioactive elements except for tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is difficult to separate from water. The treated water will be diluted to well below internationally approved levels of tritium before being released into the Pacific.
Hayashi also defended the plan at an ASEAN meeting on Thursday and claimed China was making “claims not rooted in scientific evidence”, according to Japan’s foreign ministry.
Relations between the two countries have also become tense as China asserts its maritime ambitions in the region, which Hayashi touched on during his meeting with Wang.
Hayashi “conveyed strong concerns over China’s increasing military activity conducted within the vicinity of Japan” as well as China’s military cooperation with Russia, according to the statement.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry)
