駐日米大使、福島訪問　地元産の魚食べ中国非難

【福島ＡＦＰ＝時事】米国のラーム・エマニュエル駐日大使は３１日、福島県を訪問した。地元産の魚を食べ、東京電力福島第１原子力発電所が放出を開始した処理水は、中国の原発から排出されている水よりも安全だと述べた。（写真は福島県相馬市で、立谷秀清市長〈写真外〉と昼食を取るラーム・エマニュエル駐日米大使）
　処理水の海洋放出を受け、中国は日本産水産物の輸入を全面的に禁止した。
　エマニュエル氏は同日、東日本大震災と原発事故で甚大な被害を受けた相馬市を訪れ、「この地域からの水は、中国の４原発が処理せずに海に排出している水よりも安全だ」と話した。
　市内の飲食店でヒラメやマグロなどの刺身を食べた同氏は、その後店舗で地元産のモモを購入した。
　エマニュエル氏は、中国が日本に対し「経済的威圧」や「嫌がらせ」、「偽情報の流布」に当たる行為に及んでいると非難。「これは全て政治であり、情報とは何ら関係がない。中国がこれまでに行ったことは、情報を与えたり、啓発したり、人々のより良い判断を促したりするものでは一切ない」と指摘した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/09/01-16:24）

The US envoy to Japan feasted on fish from Fukushima on Thursday, saying that water discharged from the crippled nuclear plant was safer than that dumped by Chinese atomic facilities.
China banned all seafood imports from its neighbour last week after Japan began releasing wastewater from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean, accusing Tokyo of treating the ocean like a sewer.
Japan over the decade has done exactly the right things in the right way. International scientific rigour, fully transparent, and inviting the international community to monitor their progress cleaning the water, ambassador Rahm Emanuel said as he visited the area devastated by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear catastrophe.
Water from this area is safer than (the water which) the four plants in China dumps untreated into the ocean, he said.
The water being released from Fukushima has been filtered of all radioactive elements except tritium, according to plant operator TEPCO.
Tritium levels are within safe limits and below that released by nuclear power stations in their normal operation, including in China, TEPCO says.
Emanuel, 63, ate a plateful of raw slices of flounder, tuna and bass at a local restaurant before buying more fish and locally grown peaches from a supermarket.
The public show of support for Japan came a day after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's office released a video of him consuming fish and other produce from Fukushima.
Emanuel accused China of acts of economic coercion, harassment and disinformation against Japan.
This is all politics, and this has nothing to do with information, Emanuel said.
Nothing China has done is any way to inform, to educate or to improve people's judgment, he said.
Australia's embassy also offered its support on Wednesday, publishing a video on social media showing its diplomats buying produce from the Fukushima region at a shop in Tokyo.
Australia has a strong connection with Fukushima, one said in Japanese. We will continue to support Fukushima, another added.
The release of more than 500 Olympic swimming pools' worth of treated water began on August 24.
Public hostility in China has risen since, with bricks and eggs thrown at Japanese schools and consulates. Businesses in Japan have also been inundated with nuisance calls from Chinese numbers.
Beijing dismissed the so-called concerns of the Japanese side, blaming instead Japan's unilateral and forcible start of the wastewater discharge.