As another major quake struck Japan, the country was still reckoning with the nuclear crisis triggered by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and a tsunami of 13 years ago.
By exaggerating the risks from Japan’s discharge of treated wastewater, Beijing hopes to cast Japan and its allies as conspirators in malfeasance, analysts say.
In the face of regional and domestic objections, the country plans to proceed with a discharge at Fukushima that will eventually reach more than a million tons of water.
Japan’s plan to discharge treated water from its destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant has triggered a backlash in the region, especially in highly polarized South Korea.