Photo/Illutration The government began releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 24. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The government plans to establish a fund to help the fisheries industry cope with China’s import ban on all Japanese seafood over the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The new fund would form a centerpiece of a package of emergency measures to expand domestic and overseas demand in response to a sharp decline in seafood exports, government sources said.

The package is designed to establish a “new supply-demand structure for seafood that is not dependent on a specific country,” although China is not being named.

Specifically, the government plans to help cultivate new overseas markets for fishery products and improve domestic processing capabilities.

China is a crucial market for Japanese seafood, and exports, such as scallops, have already fallen drastically due to the import ban.

Currently, many Japanese marine products are processed in China before being exported to other countries.

The government plans to help establish domestic processing facilities so that fishery products can be exported directly to consumer countries without relying on a “specific country.”

The industry ministry has already created two funds worth a total of 80 billion yen ($546 million) mainly to counter reputational damage expected from the discharge of filtered and diluted wastewater from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean.

One of the funds, worth 30 billion yen, is designed to implement measures to deal with declining demand for fisheries products, such as buying fish for temporary refrigerated storage.

The government is also considering expanding this fund.

WARY OF WTO COMPLAINT

The government, meanwhile, remains cautious about filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization over China’s import ban, even though some lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are calling for such action.

At a meeting of the LDP’s Foreign Affairs Division on Aug. 30, many members said China’s move violates WTO agreements, and Japan should file a complaint.

At a news conference on Aug. 29, Sanae Takaichi, minister in charge of economic security, also indicated that a WTO complaint should be in the cards.

“We have entered a stage where we have to think about some kind of countermeasures,” she said.

However, the government is emphasizing dialogue with China and, for the time being, asking Beijing to immediately end the import ban.

“We want to communicate closely with the Chinese side,” Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi has said.

China has criticized the discharge of what it calls “the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water” and immediately banned imports of Japanese seafood on Aug. 24, when Japan began releasing the treated water.

Wang Wenbin, deputy director of the information department of China’s ministry of foreign affairs, stood firm on the country’s position.

He told a news conference in Beijing on Aug. 30 that China has taken urgent measures on marine products originating from Japan in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations and the relevant provisions of a WTO agreement.

“This is completely justified, reasonable and necessary,” Wang said.

(This article was compiled from reports by Ryo Aibara, Kazuki Uechi and Shohei Sasagawa.)

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