China on Friday criticized Japan for confusing the nuclear wastewater with the normal operating drainage of nuclear power plants, saying it distorts concepts and misleads public opinion.

The remarks were made by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin at a regular press briefing in response to Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno's claim that China and South Korea had both discharged liquid waste containing high levels of tritium, a radioactive material, and Japan's standard for discharge is much more rigid than those two countries.

Wang said the nuclear-contaminated water which had direct contact with the reactors' cores melt during the Fukushima nuclear accident is fundamentally different from the normal operating drainage of a nuclear power plant that is not in direct contact with reactors' cores. "It is not hard to imagine even for ordinary people," he said.

In particular, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not assessed the effectiveness and long-term reliability of Japan's nuclear-contaminated water purification equipment and cannot guarantee that all nuclear-contaminated water will be treated to meet the standards for the next 30 years, he said.

He also noted that Japan has gone to great lengths to "embellish" the nuclear-contaminated water, including designing tritium as a "mascot" and inventing pseudo-scientific terms like "treated water."

"The Japanese side has only one purpose, and that is to downplay the hazards of nuclear contaminated water," he said, adding no matter what Japan says, it cannot turn the contaminated water into normal water, nor can it shirk the consequences and responsibilities caused by discharging the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.

He urged Japan to honestly respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community, stop promoting its discharge plans and effectively dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water properly in a scientific, safe, transparent and consultative manner.

When answering a query about disagreement among international experts over IAEA's assessment report on Japan's disposal of nuclear-contaminated water, Wang said that the situation once again showed that the IAEA hastily released the report, which failed to fully reflect views from experts that participated in the review. Therefore, the conclusion is largely limited and incomplete and does not address the international community's concerns, he said.

(Cover: A view of Chinese Foreign Ministry. /CFP)