The opinion pages of the Global Times, China's hawkish tabloid, bristled at the media in Japan on Tuesday after reports there highlighted the influx of Chinese visitors despite weeks of warnings from Beijing about the risk of consuming Japanese seafood.
Japanese airline operators said flights departing from Chinese cities were fully booked ahead of China's eight-day break also known as "Golden Week," which began last Friday as part of its National Day celebrations on October 1.
Voting with their feet, Chinese travelers put the state-run newspaper in an awkward position over its previous prediction that Japan's tourism figures would plummet following the release of diluted wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Beijing issued an outright ban on Japanese aquatic products in response to Tokyo's decision on August 24, although Chinese fishing boats continue to operate in the same waters. But its nationwide propaganda campaign, which included complaints at high-level meetings in the United Nations, ultimately failed to dissuade vacationers during one of China's largest annual holidays.
Last week, Ichiro Takahashi, head of the Japan Tourism Agency, said its inquires at travel agencies in China showed the impact on tourism to Japan "has been limited," according to Japan's Kyodo News, which said the country remained a top destination for Chinese travelers.
Data from China's first proper Golden Week break since it ended strict COVID-19 policies late last year will be used to gauge the strength of its post-pandemic economic recovery. Its culture and tourism ministry said it was expecting 896 million domestic trips by road, rail, air and ferry, while spending at home could reach over $100 billion.
However, overseas destinations can remain a touchy subject when China's state media argue the government's political sentiments are shared by the wider public. The Global Times op-ed described the Japanese reports as "tourism public opinion warfare," meant to undermine China's position. Not all passengers on Japan-bound flights were tourists, it said.
Tokyo and Beijing have been engaged in a public opinion fight over the release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima plant, 12 years after it was struck by an earthquake and tsunami.
Japan says its decision was based on science and backed by ongoing assessments by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said radionuclides detected in the water were not sufficient to pose a health risk. China says its concerns are also fact-based but has yet to publish technical data from its own testing.
Other governments in the region have stepped up radiation monitoring, but all stopped short of replicating Beijing's blanket ban.
China's embassy in Japan and its civil aviation authority didn't immediately respond to separate written requests for comment before publication. Japan's tourism authority didn't return a request for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Micah McCartney is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers U.S.-China relations, East Asian and Southeast Asian ... Read more
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