In the province of Guangdong, nestled along China’s southern coastline, a woman took to social media to share an image of a boxed Japanese-brand air-conditioner she intended to return as a form of protest. Meanwhile, in the southwest region of China, the proprietor of a Japanese pub uploaded a video of himself tearing down anime posters and smashing bottles, announcing his intention to transform the establishment into a Chinese bistro.
Within numerous posts across various social media platforms, the phrase “nuclear-contaminated wastewater” has gained prominence. This choice of words mirrors the terminology employed by the Chinese government and state-run media to depict Japan’s discharge of treated radioactive water into the ocean, originating from the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Even before Japan initiated the process of releasing over a million tons of wastewater, China had orchestrated a well-coordinated disinformation campaign to spread doubts about the safety of this release. This campaign has incited anger and fear among millions of Chinese citizens.
The water release, a dozen years after the nuclear plant succumbed to a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, prompted China to resort to its previous tactics of fostering diplomatic chaos with its regional rival. In 2012, Chinese demonstrators, allegedly supported by authorities, launched attacks on sushi restaurants following the landing of Japanese activists on an island disputed by both China and Japan.
However, this time, Beijing appears to harbor a more extensive agenda. In the wake of significant global shifts, where China and the United States seem to be partitioning the world into opposing factions, experts posit that China aims to cast doubt on Japan’s credibility. Moreover, it seeks to portray Japan’s allies as collaborators in wrongdoing.
While the United States, the European Union, and Australia stand in support of Japan’s water release, China seeks to present a narrative suggesting that Japan and its international partners are driven by geopolitical motives, causing them to compromise ethical standards, international norms, and scientific principles. Tong Zhao, a senior fellow specializing in nuclear policy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, emphasizes China's intention to project an image of its adversaries disregarding science in favor of political interests.
Zhao underscores the danger of a growing information divide that could embolden China to directly challenge prevailing international narratives, institutions, and order.
Scientific authorities, including Chinese experts appointed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, have asserted that Japan’s water release will have minimal impact on human health and the environment.
Nevertheless, China's foreign ministry condemned Japan's release of "nuclear-contaminated water" and imposed restrictions on Japanese seafood imports. This decision followed months of denunciations from the Chinese government and its media partners concerning Japan's water discharge plan.
Municipal offices in Tokyo, located over 150 miles away from the Fukushima plant, were inundated with harassing messages from callers using China's country code. The callers shouted phrases like "You idiot!" or "Why release contaminated water?" in rudimentary Japanese.
According to Logically, a tech startup focused on countering disinformation, references to Fukushima by Chinese state media, officials, and pro-China influencers on social media have multiplied fifteenfold since the beginning of the year.
These posts often omit critical details, like the fact that Japan thoroughly removes most radioactive materials before discharging the water. Furthermore, they disregard that Chinese nuclear power plants release wastewater containing much higher levels of radioactive material compared to the water emanating from Fukushima.
China Central Television and China Global Television Network, which are both state-owned, have disseminated paid advertisements denouncing the water release across multiple countries and languages on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. This global outreach signifies China's effort to garner support for its stance in what is increasingly reminiscent of a modern Cold War.
Challenges of Addressing Misinformation
Chinese sources have accentuated initial failures by the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima plant, to accurately report the extent to which the water had undergone treatment via a robust filtration system.
As stated on the power company’s official website, only approximately 30 percent of the roughly 1.3 million tons of water held in tanks at the site has undergone complete treatment, leaving only tritium—an isotope of hydrogen considered to pose minimal risks to human health. Tepco has committed not to release any water until it has been fully treated.
Several Japanese government agencies and Tepco conducted tests on the water released last week, revealing negligible tritium levels well below the standards stipulated by the World Health Organization. Surprisingly, tritium levels in water discharged from nuclear power plants in China and South Korea exceed those in the water from Fukushima.
With monitoring conducted by entities such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and experts from numerous countries, the Japanese government is facing significant international pressure. Kai Vetter, a nuclear engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, emphasizes this intense scrutiny. He has extensively studied the environmental and societal ramifications of the Fukushima disaster.
Challenges and Repercussions for Japan
Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, addressed the situation by noting Japan's repeated efforts to counter misinformation from China. The foreign ministry employs the hashtag #LetTheScienceTalk on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. However, the challenge lies in conveying complex scientific concepts to the general populace, who often react emotionally to such events.
"It’s understandable that people worry and are fearful of something they don’t know well," remarks Ittaka Kishida, a professor at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, who specializes in the sociology and history of nuclear physics. He suggests that people must place their trust in experts, even if they cannot personally verify the information.
Unresolved Questions and Potential Consequences
The lack of scientific comprehension creates a fertile ground for misinformation, particularly within China's tightly regulated information ecosystem. Exploiting longstanding concerns about food safety, Chinese authorities can manipulate public sentiment and induce fear. This manipulation is exemplified by the insights provided by Kyle Walter, head of research at Logically.
Critics of Japan's approach suggest that the country has not always acted in its best interest. Doubts persist regarding whether Tepco will truly uphold its commitment to remove most radioactive materials from the water over the planned 30-year discharge period. Furthermore, these critics argue that neighboring countries should have been consulted before Japan finalized its decision to release the wastewater.
Azby Brown, the lead researcher at Safecast, an environmental monitoring organization that has tracked radiation levels in Fukushima since the disaster, suggests that Japan inadvertently provided China an opportunity to amplify the perceived risks. He highlights the importance of international consultation to anticipate valid questions raised by China and South Korea.
Within China, pockets of resistance have emerged against the government’s propaganda. A science blogger, Liu Su, addressed a “nationalist narrative” tied to Japan’s colonial-era abuses. This narrative portrays Japan as forever undeserving of genuine forgiveness, while any criticism aimed at Japan is deemed justifiable. However, Liu Su removed his post from a social media platform after a user reported him to Shanghai authorities for "inappropriate speech."
South Korean officials have actively worked to discredit certain sensational claims propagated on social media. For instance, Park Koo-yeon, a government representative, identified a photo of discolored water near the Fukushima plant as fake news, revealing that the image was captured eight minutes before the discharge even commenced.
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