Just after the United States, Japan, and South Korea held the Camp David summit in the United States, Japan received the endorsement of the United States and South Korea, and decided to start discharging nuclear wastewater into the sea on August 24. In at least 30 years, it will discharge about 1.3 million cubic meters of nuclear water. Wastewater, equivalent to about 500 Olympic swimming pools.
An unprecedented nuclear sewage experiment was launched, so that Japan did not want to bear the huge expenditure of other sewage methods.
Japan’s pollution discharge method would have been cast aside by the whole world, but in the end none of the seven major industrial countries of the G7 spoke out against it, and even the deeply affected neighboring country South Korea turned to support it. The reason behind it is not Japan’s anti-sea law security, but the politics manipulated by the United States.
Anti-China is the consensus of the U.S. government and opposition. After the Biden administration came to power in January 2021, it has also clearly inherited Trump’s anti-China line. In the anti-China camp, Japan is an indispensable and important pawn. Japan has long seen through its own role in the American chess game, and directly asked the United States to support itself in discharging nuclear sewage into the sea.
After Japan received the support of the new US government, it made a preliminary decision to discharge the nuclear sewage into the sea three months later, and the US also jumped out to support it. U.S. State Department spokesperson Price said on April 13, 2021: “We can see Japan’s transparent attitude in this decision-making process. It can be said that it has chosen a method that is in line with internationally accepted nuclear safety standards.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was even more pushy at the time, tweeting: “Thanks to Japan for their efforts to make emissions decisions transparent.”
It is an eye-opener to describe a selfish pollution discharge behavior as something that others should be grateful for, and it also makes people who believe in American marketing (marketing promotion) gradually feel that they are ashamed if they do not thank Japan for sewage discharge up.
Obviously, Japan itself believed it, so it seemed confident about the discharge of nuclear sewage into the sea.
On April 19 this year, the G7 held a meeting of climate and energy ministers in Japan. The main topic of the meeting was global climate change and energy issues, but an interesting incident happened.
At the press conference after the meeting, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura said that the Japanese government has dealt with the issue of nuclear wastewater discharge in a transparent and open manner, which has been recognized and supported by the international community.
Yasutoshi Nishimura just triumphantly repeated the American marketing that Blinken said two years ago, but he did not expect that there would be objections.
German Environment Minister Lemke, who was next to Yasutoshi Nishimura at the time, immediately drew a line with Japan, saying that although Tokyo’s efforts were commendable, Germany did not accept Japan’s decision to discharge nuclear wastewater into the sea. This embarrassing scene has attracted widespread attention from the media and the public.
Lemke is from the Green Party. Since the German government as a whole wants to join the United States in not opposing Japan’s pollution discharge, it could not have spoken out against it. But Japan is too happy to talk about their “recognition and acceptance”, how can they explain it to German voters who support the Green Party?
On the contrary, South Korean President Yoon Sik-yue is bold, pro-American, and whole-heartedly supports Japan’s nuclear pollution discharge. The South Korean president can only serve one term, and his current approval rating is low. Busy dealing with the new president of South Korea.
So don’t think that the international community has justice, democracy, and environmental protection. In fact, there is nothing but politics.
By the way, those who advocate environmental protection every day, if they don’t come out to oppose Japan’s nuclear pollution, can they sleep at night?
Lu Yongxiong
The housing problem in Hong Kong is difficult to deal with. There are 230,000 waiting lists for public housing, and the average waiting time is 5.3 years. However, some of the work done by the government in recent years has begun to bear fruit. I recently visited a transitional housing project and saw tangible improvements. The project is the “Tongxin Village” in Tung Tau, Yuen Long. The developer Sun Hung Kai lent the land and supported the construction at a nominal rent of one yuan. It is operated by the Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Association and supported by the Housing Bureau.
After visiting this transitional housing project on site, I found that its living environment is very different from the subdivided housing.
1. Convenient transportation. Although Tongxin Village is located in Yuen Long, it is only a 10-minute walk from the West Rail Yuen Long Station, and there are minibuses and buses, so the transportation is quite convenient. When many people hear about the transitional housing in Yuen Long, they feel that they are in the suburbs and have no interest in moving to such a distant place. In fact, when they visit the site for themselves, their impressions are quite different.
2. The rent is cheap, which is the most attractive part of transitional housing. Take a unit with 2 to 3 people in Tongxin Village as an example, with an area of 182 square feet, the apparent rent is 3,430 yuan, but if you have been waiting for public housing for more than 3 years, there will be a government subsidy, and the actual rent is about 2,000 yuan. Now the government has added a one-off relocation allowance.
Tongxin Village also has more than 200 units with 2 to 3 people available for application.
I saw a resident Liang Sheng and Mrs. Liang at the scene. They originally had a subdivided flat in Kwai Chung, and the rent for 120 square feet was 5,300 yuan. There are also quite expensive electricity bills, water bills, and garbage bills, and the environment is quite noisy and it is difficult to sleep. Now living in Tongxin Village is only about 2,000 yuan in rent, and other fees are also quite cheap. I can save 4,000 yuan a month. The decimals are afraid of long-term calculations. This grassroots family can save 48,000 yuan in rent a year. It can be said that “nothing to lose”. There is also a quiet environment where you can feel sleepy. The two couples are very happy to do volunteer work at the community center in the village.
There are many spaces for activities in Tongxin Village.
3. Excellent living environment. The rooms in Tongxin Village have windows, and you can directly see the sunlight outside. The units of more than 100 square feet feel wider than subdivided houses. Children have desks to do their homework. The outdoor environment is even better. There is a lot of space for children to move out of the door. There are also community centers, convenience stores, and laundry rooms. Children grow up here. It is no different from living in public housing, and it is even more expensive than living in old public housing in urban areas. The environment is much better.
The indoor environment is far better than subdivided flats.
4. The occupancy rate is still not full. Such a good place is not full. There are 1,800 units in Tongxin Village, with an occupancy rate of about 87%. There are still more than 200 two- to three-person units, which are not yet fully occupied. Single people or families who have been waiting for public housing for at least 3 years, or who have urgent housing needs are eligible to apply. Such a good facility has not been fully utilized, which is a bit of a waste. I am afraid that it is not as good as the general feeling that the transitional housing is located in a remote environment. It is relevant, but it is definitely worth going to Tongxin Village to see the subdivided households, so that you can know the real situation.
There are activity centers, convenience stores, and laundry rooms in the village.
Now workers are looking for people, not people looking for workers. If subdivided households move to transitional housing such as Tongxin Village and find jobs in nearby communities, it will be a great leap forward in living environment. Even if you want to work in the city, the traffic is acceptable.
The government began to focus on solving the housing problem. As far as transitional housing is concerned, there are now more than 7,000 units, and a total of 21,000 units will be completed in the future. In addition, the government plans to build 30,000 simple public housing units, and 51,000 transitional units will be supplied in the future. There are 133,000 households or households waiting for the elderly who are waiting for public housing and non-elderly applicants. Transitional housing can make nearly 40 of them escape from the bad living conditions of subdivided housing.
One more transitional housing unit can improve the living environment of one more family. The efforts of relevant organizations are worthy of support.
Lu Yongxiong
2023-08-22 10:27:18
#Political #manipulation #support #Japans #sewage #discharge
