By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-25 11:18:55 | Updated at 2024-09-30 15:39:41
5 days ago
A Japanese diplomat has urged Hong Kong to make the “correct decision” and lift the city’s 13-month-long import ban on aquatic products from 10 prefectures as soon as possible, after Beijing signalled its intention to gradually roll back its own curbs.
Kenichi Okada, the country’s consul general in Hong Kong, made the appeal on Wednesday, a day after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu called for access to “sufficient scientific data and evidence” before his administration would consider any possibility of adjusting the restrictions.
Hong Kong currently bans aquatic products from the Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama prefectures.
The Centre for Food Safety also ramped up daily radiation inspections on all other Japanese seafood imports as part of the restrictions.
Okada, appearing at the opening ceremony of the city’s 9th Japan Autumn Festival, said: “Although it is very regrettable that the Hong Kong government still prohibits the import of aquatic products from 10 Japanese prefectures, Hong Kong is currently the largest global export destination for Japanese aquatic products.”
