日ミクロネシア、中国念頭に連携　処理水放出で理解得る

　岸田文雄首相は２日、ミクロネシア連邦のパニュエロ大統領と首相官邸で会談した。南太平洋への進出を図る中国を念頭に、「自由で開かれたインド太平洋」実現に向けた連携強化で一致。パニュエロ氏は、東京電力福島第１原発から出る処理水の海洋放出を支持する考えを表明した。
　昨年９月の国連総会では、反対姿勢を示していた。これに関し、パニュエロ氏は会談後の共同記者発表で、日本側の説明に納得したと強調。「懸念はもはや持っていない。技術力があれば海の資産は損なわれない」と述べた。（2023/02/02-20:36）

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Micronesian President David Panuelo agreed in Tokyo on Thursday to bolster their countries' cooperation to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific, at a time when China is expanding its presence in the South Pacific.
   During the meeting at the prime minister's office, Panuelo also expressed his support for Japan's plan to release treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which suffered the triple meltdown after being hit by a huge earthquake and mammoth tsunami in March 2011.
   At a U.N. General Assembly meeting last September, Panuelo voiced his opposition to the plan.
   But the president of the Pacific island nation told a joint press conference after the bilateral summit that satisfactory Japanese explanations made him change his mind.
   Panuelo said he now has no worries about the water release because he has learned that adequate technologies can prevent marine resources from being damaged.