China and Japan engage in diplomatic spat over Fukushima nuclear plant tweet

China and Japan recently accused each other of inappropriate behaviour after a Chinese government official posted an altered image of the famous painting ‘The Great Wave Off Kanagawa’ to show nuclear waste being poured into the sea. Earlier this month, Japan had announced that it would release the contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. The decision angered China as it called the plan “extremely irresponsible”. 

On April 26, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, tweeted the image of the painting which was made in the 19th century by artist Hokusai. Lijian also shared the altered picture which showed green nuclear waste being poured into the sea by two people in orange Hazmat suits from a boat. The image, created by a Chinese illustrator, also showed a nuclear plant cooling tower instead of Mount Fiji. 

When asked about the tweet at a news conference, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, on Tuesday said that he would not comment on every tweet “by someone at the press secretary level”. However, Motegi also added that Japan was lodging a “forceful protest” and seeking the tweet’s removal through diplomatic channels. 

In response, Lijian said, “You asked if I will delete the tweet and apologise. You may have noticed, I have pinned the tweet at the top”. While speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the Chinese official said that the illustration shows the “righteous” call of the people. He added that it is the Japanese government that needs to revoke its “wrong decision and apologise”. 

"Japan did a bad thing, yet can't let others talk about it?" Zhao said.

"The whole world has been protesting for a while now, some Japanese officials play dumb and pretended not to hear, yet they get so worked up over an illustration,” he added. 

South Korea expresses ‘strong regret’  

Meanwhile, South Korea has also expressed “strong regret” about Japan’s decision to start releasing treated radioactive water from the wicked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean. Earlier this month, the Minister of South Korea's Office for Government Policy Coordination Koo Yun-cheol said that the plans were "absolutely unacceptable”. He urged Japan to provide transparent information about the plan and specify how the plant's water would be treated and how its safety would be verified. Further, Koo also said that South Korea would raise its concerns to the International Atomic Energy Agency. 

(Image: Twitter/AP)