China Calls On UN To Pay Attention To Japan's Water Dumping

China's top diplomat in Geneva on Thursday called on the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council to pay more attention to Japan's nuclear-contaminated water discharge issue urging Japan to immediately stop its discharge into the sea.

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The head of the Chinese Mission to UN at Geneva, Chen Xu said during an interactive dialogue with UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation that if the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water is truly safe, Japan wouldn't have to dump it into the sea and certainly shouldn't if it's not.

Chen noted that the Japanese government unilaterally and forcibly initiated the dumping of nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.

Such an act constitutes a serious violation of the health, development and environmental rights of the people of Pacific coastal countries and even the whole world, Chen said.

The diplomat added that the legitimacy, legality and safety of the discharge have been questioned by the international community, and have been strongly opposed by people in Japan and South Korea.

The Fukushima nuclear accident is one of the world's most serious nuclear disasters to date. Hit by a massive earthquake and an ensuing tsunami in March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered core meltdowns and generated a massive amount of contaminated water which is known to have more than 60 radioactive elements.

On August 24, Japan began dumping water contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, despite appeals from national fishermen, neighboring countries and environmental experts around the world.