Beijing:
China and Japan accused every other of inappropriate behaviour just after a Chinese government official posted a tweet of an iconic Japanese woodblock print manipulated to show nuclear waste becoming poured into the sea, launching a new diplomatic spat.
Earlier this month, Japan stated it would release into the sea contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear energy plant, angering its neighbours. China stated the strategy was “extremely irresponsible”.
On Monday, Zhao Lijian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, tweeted an image of “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa” made in the 19th century by artist Hokusai, altered to show green nuclear waste becoming poured into the sea by two persons in orange Hazmat suits from a boat.
In the image, made by a Chinese illustrator, Mount Fuji in the background was replaced by a nuclear plant cooling tower.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, when asked about the tweet at a news conference on Tuesday, stated he would not comment on just about every tweet “by someone at the press secretary level”.
But he stated Japan was lodging a “forceful protest” and in search of the tweet’s removal by means of diplomatic channels.
“You asked if I will delete the tweet and apologise. You may have noticed, I have pinned the tweet at the top,” Zhao stated at a common press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
“The illustration shows the righteous call of the people. It is the Japanese government which needs to revoke its wrong decision and apologise,” Zhao stated.
On Wednesday, when asked once more about the tweet by an opposition lawmaker in Japan’s parliament, Motegi stated that “such heartless tweets should not be allowed”, according to Kyodo News.
“Japan did a bad thing, yet can’t let others talk about it?” Zhao stated.
“The whole world has been protesting for a while now, some Japanese officials play dumb and pretended not to hear, yet they get so worked up over an illustration.”
The bitter exchanges came on the heels of Chinese anger at a current statement by U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who jointly agreed to face down China more than a variety of concerns from Taiwan to Muslim Uighurs in the farwestern Chinese area of Xinjiang.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)