SNA (Taipei) — Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to Japan has been called a “traitor” back home after making controversial comments about the planned release of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima plant.

Frank Hsieh told his 300,000 Facebook followers that while he was personally against Japan’s decision to send wastewater from the wrecked plant into the sea, “I must consider that Taiwan’s nuclear power plants also discharge wastewater into the ocean.”

Opposition lawmakers jumped on his words, complaining that he was defending Japan’s decision at the expense of Taiwan’s fishing industry. The main opposition party, the Nationalist Party (KMT), accused Hsieh of being a “traitor” and reported him to police.

Hsieh has “deliberately distributed fake news that confused the normal discharge of cooling water from Taiwan’s nuclear power plants with the discharge of nuclear radiation-contaminated water sewage from Fukushima,” the KMT said in a statement, adding that they hoped prosecutors would investigate.

The KMT demanded that Hsieh come back to Taiwan to appear in front of lawmakers to answer for the controversy. But the Foreign Ministry said that that would mean their representative would have to spend 35 days in Covid-related quarantine or health management measures–and risk the health of passengers and crew on a plane back to Taipei because of a recent Covid case at their Tokyo office.

Tokyo’s plan to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean has caused consternation within Japan and among its neighbors and environmental groups. The discharge would start in two years’ time and go on for decades. The Suga government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant’s operator, say that while the water would be treated, tritium, a by-product of nuclear reactors, cannot affordably be removed, although it would be diluted to levels that are below limits set for drinking water.

China and South Korea expressed strong concerns over the plan, and Taiwan, which is much more Japan-friendly, also lodged concerns through Hsieh.

Hsieh suggested on his Facebook page that China was strongly objecting because it was opposed to the United States and Japan jointly expressing support for Taiwan, and was using the Fukushima wastewater issue “just as an excuse to make a fuss.”

After being challenged, Hsieh stood by his stance that wastewater containing tritium had also been discharged from Taiwan’s nuclear power plants into the ocean. “If what I have said is not the truth, I am willing to go to prison,” he wrote on Facebook.

Taiwan’s nuclear regulatory authority, the Atomic Energy Council, however, has expressed concerns over Japan’s planned release of tritium into the sea. It said that such a discharge after a “serious nuclear accident… indeed differs to some extent from the routine discharge from domestic nuclear power plants.”

Taiwan has three nuclear power plants, with the building of a fourth suspended since 2014 following the Fukushima disaster and a spike in public opposition to nuclear power.

If Japan goes ahead with releasing the Fukushima wastewater, the Atomic Energy Council says it will spend NT$500 million (US$18 million) to strengthen monitoring for radiation in Taiwan’s waters, including more tests for radiation on fish caught near Taiwan, to ensure public health.

Taiwan has historically had good relations with Japan, and sees Tokyo’s support as crucial as it deals with increasing military, economic, and diplomatic pressure from Beijing.

Japan-Taiwan relations strengthened under the Abe administration and “this seems to be continuing under the Suga administration,” according to Ian Chong, a political scientist from Singapore who works on East Asian relations.

“That both Taiwan and Japan feel increasing pressure from the PRC likely gives the two maritime actors more reason to find common ground,” he said.

Tsai’s government has stood by Hsieh. Presidential spokesman Xavier Chang was quoted by the state-owned Central News Agency as saying that the opposition’s “politicization” of the issue “is not helpful” to Taiwan-Japan relations.

On the other hand, KMT spokesman Ho Chih-yung said that the response from Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party government to the Fukushima wastewater plan has not been strong enough.

“The ocean is a public property, and its influence will be felt by neighboring countries,” he said. “No matter how Japan-friendly Taiwan is, we should stick to our principles.”

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