Starting from the 24th, Hong Kong and Macau will ban the import of related products. Early Reading | Japan Strongly Promotes Nuclear Polluted Water Discharge into the Sea Oppose | Prohibition | Products

Good morning The morning reading of the news is here! Wednesday, August 23, 2023, the eighth day of the seventh lunar month in Shanghai. It is cloudy to cloudy with occasional showers or thunderstorms, with moderate rainfall in some areas, ranging from 26 to 31 ℃

Focus on Today

Japan strongly promotes the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea, and the import of related products from Hong Kong and Macao is prohibited from the 24th

The Japanese government announced on the 22nd that the contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will be discharged into the sea starting from the 24th. The Japanese government disregards domestic and foreign opposition, disregards the international community's doubts about the legitimacy, legality, and safety of the sea discharge plan, ignores the risks of damaging the global marine environment and human health, and insists on promoting the nuclear contaminated water discharge plan. This is an extremely selfish and irresponsible behavior, highlighting the injustice of some Japanese politicians in facing global issues such as human survival.

According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sun Weidong summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Tsui Hideo on the 22nd to make solemn representations regarding the Japanese government's announcement that it will initiate the discharge of Fukushima nuclear contaminated water into the sea on August 24th.

Sun Weidong pointed out that the Japanese government disregards strong questioning and opposition from the international community and insists on announcing the upcoming discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. This act openly transfers the risk of nuclear pollution to neighboring countries, including China, and the international community, placing one's own interests above the long-term well-being of people in the region and around the world. It is extremely selfish and irresponsible. The Chinese side expresses serious concern and strong opposition.

Sun Weidong emphasized that the Fukushima nuclear accident is one of the most serious nuclear accidents in the world to date, causing a large amount of radioactive material leakage and having far-reaching impacts on the marine environment, food safety, and human health. The ocean is the blue homeland on which all humanity relies for survival, and Japan is not allowed to dump nuclear contaminated water at will. Japan's strong push to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea is undoubtedly a gamble on the global marine environment and human health. China strongly urges Japan to withdraw its erroneous decision, stop forcefully promoting plans to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea, communicate with neighboring countries in good faith with a sincere attitude, and handle it responsibly to avoid unpredictable damage and harm to the global marine environment. If the Japanese side persists, the Chinese government will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the marine environment, food safety, and public health.

In response to the recent decision by the Japanese government to initiate the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima, the Hong Kong and Macau governments expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition on the 22nd, and announced a ban on the import of aquatic products and other products from certain regions of Japan starting from August 24th.

On the 22nd, the Director of the Environment and Ecology Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Xie Zhanhuan, stated that in response to Japan's Fukushima nuclear contaminated water discharge plan, Hong Kong will ban the import of aquatic products from 10 counties, including Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Koki, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, and Saitama, starting from the 24th. This includes all live, frozen, refrigerated, dried or otherwise preserved aquatic products, sea salt, as well as unprocessed or unprocessed seaweed. The ban was gazetted on the 23rd.

The Macau SAR government also announced on the same day that it would ban the import of fresh food, animal derived foods, sea salt, and seaweed from the 10 counties mentioned above in Japan, including vegetables, fruits, milk and dairy products, aquatic products, meat and its products, poultry eggs, etc., starting from August 24th.

§Shencheng

The joint meeting of provincial river and lake chiefs in the Yangtze River Basin in 2023 was held yesterday.Gong Zheng, the rotating convener of the joint meeting, Deputy Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, and Mayor, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech.

Yesterday morning, the launch ceremony of the "Hundred Day Action" for comprehensive governance of the Hongqiao Hub area in Shanghai was held in the Hongqiao Business District. In response to illegal passenger transportation, the police will be stationed at the Shenhong Shaohong bus station, parking lot exit and other points in the hub area for management. They will also work with the district traffic law enforcement team to carry out surprise rectification, strengthen the discovery of illegal information and evidence fixation, and improve the effectiveness of joint law enforcement.

Shanghai has recently introduced a new round of "3+1" employment promotion policies and measures for college graduates and other young people, optimizing and improving the one-time employment subsidy and social insurance subsidy policies that encourage employers to recruit college graduates, the job seeking and entrepreneurship subsidy policies that help difficult graduates find employment, and launching ten "one" employment service campaigns to assist unemployed college graduates and unemployed youth in employment, all to ensure the overall stability of the employment situation for college graduates and other young people. Shanghai will ensure that the employment rate for unemployed graduates who leave school by the end of 2023 is not less than 90%, and all registered unemployed youth in Shanghai with employment intentions can achieve employment or participate in employment preparation activities.

§domestic

The third meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opened in Beijing on the morning of the 22nd, focusing on "improving the scientific and technological innovation system and accelerating the implementation of the innovation driven development strategy". Wang Huning, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, presided over the opening ceremony. Ding Xuexiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, was invited to attend the meeting and give a report.

On the 22nd, it was learned from the National Bureau of Statistics that the new driving force index for China's economic development in 2022 was 766.8, an increase of 28.4% compared to the previous year. The new driving force, mainly consisting of new industries, new formats, and new business models, continues to gather and grow, and the economic vitality is continuously released.

Starting from the 22nd, the railway department will further optimize and improve the 12306 passenger information service function, providing travel information services covering ticket purchase, boarding, ticket refund and rescheduling, suspension notices, and delay reminders, better meeting the needs of passenger information services and improving the travel experience.

On the 22nd, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments released the "Implementation Plan for Green and Low Carbon Advanced Technology Demonstration Projects", proposing to lay out a number of projects with leading technological levels, outstanding emission reduction effects, coordinated pollution and carbon reduction, and obvious demonstration effects.

The National Medical Insurance Administration recently announced that 26 rare disease drugs have been included in the medical insurance drug catalog through negotiations for admission to the medical insurance catalog, with an average price reduction of over 50%. By adding other drug access methods, more than 50 of the 75 rare disease drugs approved for marketing in China have been included in the list of medical insurance drugs.

On the 22nd, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the National Health Commission, and the State Administration jointly released a special action plan for addressing food safety issues in centralized dining units. From now until the end of this year, a special action plan for addressing food safety issues in centralized dining units will be launched.

The reporter learned from a press conference held by the Shandong Provincial Government Information Office on the 22nd that in order to further optimize the credit repair mechanism for administrative penalty information, Shandong has implemented a "two book simultaneous communication" system for administrative penalty decisions and administrative penalty information credit repair notifications throughout the province, guiding business entities to timely correct their dishonest behavior and eliminate adverse effects.

On the 22nd, the reporter learned from the Sichuan Provincial Government Information Office's press conference on the construction of high standard farmland in Chengdu that Sichuan has built a total of 54.76 million mu of high standard farmland, making an important contribution to the stable grain production of over 70 billion kilograms in Sichuan for three consecutive years.

The reporter learned from the Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology that a new Neolithic site dating back about 7000 years has been discovered in Jiangsu. The total area of the site exceeds 80000 square meters, and a large number of pottery, bone tools, and wooden artifacts have been unearthed. It is currently the earliest known Neolithic site in the eastern region of the Jianghuai River.

The reporter learned from the Emergency Management Bureau of Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province that on the evening of August 21st, a flash explosion occurred in Xintai Coal Mine in Yanchuan County, resulting in 11 deaths.

§International

On the 22nd, the Thai National Assembly held a joint meeting of the upper and lower houses. The live broadcast on television from the National Assembly News Center showed that the Prime Minister candidate nominated by the Thai Party, Seta Thaksin, had won the support of more than half of the members of parliament and was elected as the new Prime Minister of Thailand.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been in exile for more than ten years, returned to Thailand on the 22nd and was sentenced to eight years in prison on three charges by the Supreme Court of Thailand. He then entered a prison in Bangkok to serve his sentence.

On the 22nd, the first session of the 7th Cambodian National Assembly voted to appoint Hun Manai as the new Prime Minister of the government in Phnom Penh, and approved the nomination of parliamentary leaders and cabinet members.

A reticulated giraffe recently gave birth to a giraffe cub without stripes at the Brights Zoo in Tennessee, USA. The zoo said it may be the only remaining pure colored reticulated giraffe in the world.

On the 22nd, the Greek fire department said that wildfires in the Alexandropolis region in the northeast of the country have resulted in 18 deaths.

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