Japan’s announcement that it will start releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant immediately sparked a backlash from China and Hong Kong, two of the largest seafood importers from the country.

Sun Weidong, China’s vice minister of foreign affairs, summoned Hideo Tarumi, Japanese ambassador to China, to lodge a protest on Aug. 22 after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the water discharge will begin on Aug. 24, at the earliest.

China has warned of the risk of what it calls “the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water” being released into the Pacific Ocean. It has already implemented stricter radioactivity inspections of Japanese seafood and has effectively banned imports of fresh fish from Japan since July.

Sun indicated the possibility of further restrictions, saying that Beijing will “take all steps to protect food safety and public health.”

Tarumi reiterated Japan’s position, saying that the country will reject measures that are not based on scientific grounds.

Hong Kong announced on Aug. 22 that it will ban seafood imports from Fukushima and nine other prefectures starting Aug. 24, covering both fresh and processed products, to “protect food safety and public health in Hong Kong.”

The nine other prefectures are Miyagi, Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi, Nagano and Niigata.

“We have been discussing with the Japanese government how to secure safety from a large-scale discharge, but a ‘good response’ has not been presented,” Tse Chin-wan, secretary for environment and ecology, told a news conference.

The Hong Kong government has said it will deal with the issue of water discharge in consultation with the Chinese government.

China had already banned all food imports from the same 10 prefectures since the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011, with the exception of rice from Niigata Prefecture.

Hong Kong was the top importer of Japanese agricultural, forestry and fisheries products and food for 16 consecutive years through 2020, according to agriculture ministry statistics.

In 2022, the city was placed second after China. Hong Kong’s imports, worth 208.6 billion yen ($1.43 billion), included pearls, scallops and sea cucumbers.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee, who was elected in May last year by the almost exclusively pro-Beijing election committee members, is seen as a trusted ally of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Lee announced the ban on Japanese seafood imports on his official social media accounts, including Weibo, which can be viewed in China, on Aug. 22.

“(The water discharge program) disregards the risks to food safety and the irreversible pollution and damage to the ocean ecology, and is an irresponsible way of pushing one’s problems onto others,” he said. “I express my strong objections.”

The wording was similar to the remarks of Wang Wenbin, deputy director of the information department of China’s ministry of foreign affairs, who condemned the water discharge program at a news conference in Beijing several hours later.

In China, restaurants have been forced to switch to offering domestic products as the government effectively suspended imports of Japanese fresh fish.

In July, imports of Japanese seafood tumbled 33.7 percent from the previous month to 234.51 million yuan (4.6 billion yen), according to figures released on Aug. 18 by China’s General Administration of Customs.

The move away from Japanese seafood could accelerate once the water discharge begins.

A company employee in Shanghai said he will not eat Japanese seafood from now on.

“I am concerned even though I am told that they are scientifically safe,” the 36-year-old said. “Even if no problem immediately emerges, no one knows what will happen over time.”

A retired public servant in Beijing said she is worried although she is a fan of Japanese cuisine. 

“Even before water is released, some people told me that we should avoid Japanese food ingredients,” said the woman in her 60s. “It may be unscientific, but I am worried and can’t tell what I should believe in.”

In South Korea, members of the largest opposition party held a protest against the water discharge program outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Aug. 22.

Police scuffled with the lawmakers as they tried to enter the embassy premises carrying a resolution calling on Japan to retract the plan. Some attacked the release as “contaminated water terrorism.”

The South Korean government showed an understanding of Japan’s intent on Aug. 22, saying it confirmed Japan will release the water in accordance with its initial plan and that South Korea had determined that there are no scientific and technical problems with it.

Still, opposition lawmakers have attempted to turn the water release problem into a political issue ahead of a general election next spring by criticizing the administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol as too conciliatory toward Japan.

(This article was written by Koichiro Ishida in Taipei, Ryo Inoue in Shanghai and Narumi Ota in Seoul.)