NOURNEWS- A lot can be said about Japan, a beautiful, historic, cultural and modern country, and now, we can say Japan is a country with no regards towards environment and safety of people around the world.
On August 24, Japan started releasing into the ocean 7,800 tons of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that melted down following an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. This release, the first of some 1 million tons, is expected to last about 17 days. The process of dumping all the water, is stated to take place over the span of next 30 years.
While more people and organizations from South Korea and the Pacific Island countries are voicing their opposition and concern over Tokyo's decision. The US said it is "satisfied" with Japan's decision for turning the Pacific Ocean to its personal nuclear waste bin, which has led to more fury and concern worldwide, but it's worthy to mention; even with Washington and IAEA approval of Japan decision, the US is in fact the country that has seen the greatest reduction in imports of Japanese seafood and rice wine.
The White House talking both ways out of its mouth has exposed the hypocrisy of Washington to trade its approval of Japan's dumping for Tokyo's loyalty to serve its geopolitical strategy, and that the administration of US President Joe Biden cares less about the safety and environmental protection that seriously matters to the US people. The US priority is safeguarding geopolitics and US hegemony, and its poor handling of the Hawaii wildfires and hypocritical response to Japan's nuclear-contaminated water dumping plan are hard evidence of this.
Even with Japanese government claims regarding the safety of their decision to release the radioactive water into the ocean, people around the world are alarmed, and it has led to the emergence of massive protests around the world.
In order to prevent any impact caused by Japan's dumping of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, more countries, especially those in the Asia-Pacific like China, Thailand and Russia, are taking actions, such as strengthened testing of aquatic products imported from Japan or even imposing bans on Japanese sea goods.
Analysts have said that the Japanese government has put in a lot of resources to buy "support" or "understanding" from other countries and regions, as it understands that some countries are concerned or opposed to Japan's irresponsible decision, especially countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific. However, even if some countries did not express open oppositions, they are taking serious actions to handle the impacts.
Washington’s hypocrisy
Defying mounting oppositions and contrary to its self-styled image as a global leader in environmental protection, the Department of State of the US endorsed Tokyo's controversial dumping of the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, saying the US is "satisfied with Japan's safe, transparent, and science-based process."
While endorsing Japan's selfish and irresponsible practice that harms the global environment and the health of human beings in the planet, the US has trampled on its own image as a leader in global environmental protection, exposing its true colors which is filled with selfishness and hypocrisy of prioritizing its geopolitical interests above the long-term well-being of people around the world.
As the US publicly backs the Japanese government's plan to dump nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, media reports quoting data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan revealed that the US was making the biggest moves in decreasing imports of agricultural and aquatic products from Japan in the first half of 2023.
Data showed that the US is the country that reduced imports of Japanese agriculture, forestry and fishery products the most in the first half of the year, with imports down by 8.3 billion yen ($57 million). The main production areas of the three kinds of products are all in areas affected by the dumping of nuclear-contaminated water, according to media reports.
Though well aware of the risks brought about by the nuclear-contaminated water to surrounding oceans and the entire global environment and profound risks regarding Japan’s decision for dumping its nuclear waste, the US has succumbed to its political interests.
Without the indulgence of the US and IAEA, the Japanese decision to dump nuclear- contaminated water would not have been so arbitrary. Japan opened a Pandora's box on Thursday with the strong backing of the US and IAEA, allowing the crisis to plague other countries and the international community.
BY: Homayoun Barkhor
NOURNEWS