US military begins Japan seafood purchases to counter China ban

G7 trade ministers also call for ‘immediate repeal’ of ban on Japanese food

The US military has decided to buy Japan’s seafood in bulk in an effort to offset China’s ban in the wake of the Fukushima water release.

US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Monday told Reuters in an interview that “it is to be a long-term contract between the US armed forces and the fisheries and co-ops here in Japan”.

He added that Washington needed to explore various strategies to counteract China’s ban, which he said was a component of their “economic warfare”.

On Sunday, the G7 trade ministers also called for an “immediate repeal” of the ban on Japanese food. “We deplore actions to weaponise economic dependencies and commit to build on free, fair, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationships,” the G7 statement read.

Mr Emanuel said: “The best way we have proven in all the instances to kind of wear out China’s economic coercion is [to] come to the aid and assistance of the targeted country or industry.”

Responding to the ambassador’s comments, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that “the responsibility of diplomats is to promote friendship between countries rather than smearing other countries and stirring up trouble”.

The first seafood bulk purchase by the United States through this programme included just slightly less than a metric ton of scallops – a mere fraction of the more than 100,000 tons of scallops that Japan exported to mainland China last year.

Mr Emanuel said that the bulk purchases from Japan for the US military will increase with time.

The seafood will be used to feed soldiers in messes and aboard vessels and sold in shops and restaurants on military bases.

Soon after the Fukushima wastewater release began on 24 August, China placed a ban on all seafood imports from Japan, saying it had “the right and the responsibility to take legitimate, reasonable and necessary preventative measures to protect the marine environment, food safety and people’s health”.

Additional reporting by agencies