Japan Complains About Harassment Calls From China After Fukushima Water Release

Japan said on Monday that it received multiple “extremely regrettable” harassment phone calls from China after the country released treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific, reported news agency Reuters. However, the Chinese embassy in Tokyo said it had also gotten many unwanted and nuisance calls from the Japanese side on the matter. This came subsequent to Japan discharging radioactive water on Thursday under its plans to decommission the Fukushima plant. The plant was hit by three meltdowns following a tsunami that hit the country in 2011, which was also the world’s worst nuclear plant disaster since Chornobyl 25 years earlier.

Japan’s Cabinet Secretary and the chief government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno was quoted as saying by Reuters: “A lot of harassment phone calls believed to be originating from China are occurring in Japan. These developments are extremely regrettable and we are concerned.”

Fukushima city hall began getting calls with the China country code +86 on Thursday and the number of such calls exceeded 200 later on. Officials said such calls flooded phone lines and disrupted city employees’ ordinary work.

Subsequently, Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano summoned the Chinese ambassador on the matter, said Japan’s foreign ministry. However, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said they were not aware of the matter when asked about the harassment accusations at a regular briefing on Monday.

Later, the Chinese embassy in Tokyo released an official statement and said it had registered serious representations with Japan about the Chinese embassy and consulates in Japan receiving “a large number of nuisance calls from Japan,” reported Reuters.

Commenting on the matter, Ambassador Wu Jianghao said many calls also caused “serious interference in the normal operation of the embassy and consulates.”

Countering these, Japan’s foreign ministry issued an official statement and said the harassment calls were also occurring at Japanese facilities in China. The ministry also requested the government to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens in the country.

Speaking on the matter, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the government had “strongly” requested Beijing to urge its citizens to act “calmly and responsibly” after some incidents of stone-pelting on a Japanese school and embassy.