TOKYO — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel accused China on Friday of using “economic coercion” against Japan by banning imports of Japanese seafood in response to the release of treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean, while Chinese boats continue to fish off Japan’s coasts.
“Economic coercion is the most persistent and pernicious tool in their economic toolbox,” Emanuel said in a speech Friday in Tokyo, calling China’s ban on Japanese seafood the latest example.
China is the biggest market for Japanese seafood, and the ban has badly hurt Japan’s fishing industry.
“China is engaged right now in fishing in Japan’s economic waters while they are simultaneously engaged in the unilateral embargo on Japan’s fish,” Emanuel said. He said China’s intention is to isolate Japan.
Japan began gradually releasing treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima plant into the sea on Aug. 24. The water has accumulated at the plant since it was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. China immediately banned imports