US ambassador to Japan calls Chinese ban on Japanese seafood ‘economic coercion’

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel has accused China 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. China is the biggest market for Japanese seafood, and the ban has badly hurt Japan’s fishing industry. Emanuel posted four photos on social media on Friday which he said showed Chinese boats fishing off the Japanese coast after China imposed the embargo. The U.N. nuclear agency says the release of treated wastewater, if carried out as planned, will have a negligible impact on marine life and human health.