'Nuclear-free world' a Japanese ploy to dispose toxic water

Tokyo Electric Power Company began discharging the nuclear-contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea for the fifth time on April 19. The company had previously announced that it would discharge about 54,600 metric tons of radioactive water in seven rounds in the 2024-25 fiscal year (April 2024 to March 2025).The problem is that the water contains about 14 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium that could damage the marine ecology and harm human health.

The Japanese company's action is in total contrast to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's recent speech to the United States Congress. Addressing the Congress, Kishida said that as a native of Hiroshima, he is committed to promoting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Since assuming power, Kishida has never let an occasion go by without using the so-called anti-nuclear narrative and projecting Japan as the only victim of nuclear bombs.

In 2020, Kishida published a book to promote his political thoughts, but surprisingly the book didn't propose any specific plan to build a "nuclear-free world". In June 2022, at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Kishida proposed "peace visions", mentioning practical cooperation to achieve a world without nuclear weapons. And in May 2023, the Hiroshima summit issued a joint document on the Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament.