Japan says may take China to WTO over Fukushima-driven seafood import ban
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan threatened on Tuesday to take China to the World Trade Organization to seek a reversal of Beijing's ban on all of its seafood imports after the release of treated radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that Japan would take «necessary action (on China's aquatic product ban) under various routes including the WTO framework».
Filing a WTO complaint might become an option if protesting to China through diplomatic routes is ineffective, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi said separately.
The comments came as Japanese businesses and public facilities continued to receive harassment calls from phone numbers with the +86 Chinese country code, with many reporting callers complaining of the Fukushima water release.
Japan's National Police Agency has received 225 reports of harassment calls to date, Jiji News reported, and the government said it was seeking help from telecommunications companies to block the calls.
An increasing number of landline phone users are requesting to block foreign numbers, said a spokesperson at NTT Communications, a Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (OTC:NPPXF) unit. NTT and other phone companies including KDDI (OTC:KDDIF) and SoftBank (TYO:9984) Corp are discussing measures following the government's request.
NTT East, which serves the eastern half of the country including Fukushima, said it had set up a customer service centre on Tuesday specifically for harassment calls from overseas, in response to the government's plea.
«It is extremely regrettable and concerning about the large number of harassment calls that have likely come from China,» Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura
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