China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Wednesday called on the Japanese government to revoke its decision to dump nuclear polluted water into the ocean and apologize, in response to a question regarding a tweet he posted on Monday.
The tweet contains a re-creation of the famous Japanese painting "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" which showed nuclear polluted water being poured into the sea.
Japan protested the post on Tuesday and asked for the tweet's removal.
But Zhao on Wednesday defended his tweet and said he has instead pinned it to his page.
"The Japanese side has done bad things and won't let others say things about it?" questioned Zhao.
He also accused some Japanese officials of deliberately ignoring others' protests.
"Why are they so angry about an illustration? They should listen more to protests around the world against their plan of disposing of nuclear polluted water into the ocean," he argued.
China has repeatedly voiced opposition of Japanese government's unilateral disposal decision, saying it was made before exhausting all safe ways of disposal, without fully disclosing relevant information, or fully consulting with neighboring countries and the international community.
At another press briefing on Wednesday, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment also expressed grave concern.
"Japan should have disclosed relevant information in a timely and comprehensive manner to effectively meet the concerns of stakeholders and the international community before it initiated the plan," spokesman Liu Youbin told reporters.
The International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month said it's working on the establishment of a technical working group that will include members from relevant stakeholders including China and South Korea to carry out work on Japan's disposal plan as well as the follow-up implementation and international assessment and supervision.
