Japan Embassy Steps Up Social Media Campaign over Water Release

Beijing, Sept. 4 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese Embassy in Beijing is stepping up a social media campaign in Chinese to counter China's repeated unscientific claims about Japan's release of treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean. The Japanese embassy has some 1.95 million followers on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, where it had focused on the scenery and food culture of Japan. The embassy started sending out information actively about the water release on Aug. 23, a day before the start of the discharge. The water from the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. plant in Fukushima Prefecture is diluted with seawater to lower concentrations of tritium, a radioactive substance, far below safety limits before being released into the Pacific Ocean. The number of views of the embassy's Weibo post showing that several nuclear plants in China released far more tritium in 2021 than the planned annual amount at the Fukushima plant topped nine million, about 90 times the usual number. Among comments, there are a few supporting Japan or showing trust in science. The Japanese embassy is posting similar messages on X to reach out to Chinese people using virtual private networks in China and those living outside the country. It has some 46,000 followers on X. Chinese state television and online media have been reporting protests in Japan against the water release. Scholars' claims that the treated water will reach the Chinese coast in 240 days and an illustration on how the water would arrive have been widely shared. Citizens in China largely believe Beijing's claims that the Japanese government has spread the risk to the rest of the world by choosing a low-cost method of disposal. END