On Tuesday, Japan sought to take China to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to aim for a turnaround of the ban on its seafood imports after the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, the foreign minister told reporters that Japan would take essential steps (on China’s sea product ban) under different paths including the WTO framework.
Sanae Takaichi, the Economic Security Minister said that filing a complaint in WTO might become a possibility if opposing China through diplomatic ways is useless.
The following statements came as Japanese businesses and public facilities continued to get harassment calls from phone numbers with the country code of China, with many callers protesting the Fukushima wastewater release.
Kyoto News reported that Fukushima prefectural government and public facilities in the prefecture have received about 3,000 harassment calls.
A growing number of users of landline phones are asking to block foreign numbers, said a spokesperson at NTT Communications.
NTT East said it had set up a consumer service centre on Tuesday especially for harassment calls from abroad, after the government’s appeal.
During a news conference Yasutoshi Nishimura, Trade Minister said that it is deeply distressing and concerning about the large number of harassment calls that have likely appeared from China.
He added that according to the Fukushima’s people, some calls were even going to hospitals.
The government was collecting details on the reports of actions to boycott Japanese products in China and would operate with business leaders to handle the problem, the minister said.
