Working with Japan on Fukushima and RCEP can benefit Hong Kong

The release of waste water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the ocean has contributed to strained relations between Japan and Hong Kong. In response to the release, the government moved last August to ban aquatic products from Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama.

A year later, the city government vowed tougher action to restrict Japanese seafood imports if contamination levels got worse. Hopes that relations would improve rose in September after mainland China agreed to “gradually resume” imports of Japanese seafood, possibly opening the door for Hong Kong to follow suit, but recent events suggest ties remain tense.

For instance, there was what was described as a “thinly veiled attack” on Kenichi Okada, the outgoing Japanese consul general in Hong Kong, by the Hong Kong environmental authorities. This was in response to Okada saying he felt he could not discuss the discharge of Fukushima radioactive waste water with the city’s government “in a scientific manner” after the latter rejected a report by the UN’s nuclear watchdog which said the water disposal aligned with international safety standards.