With its stringent quality control, food imported from Japan, mainly rice, seafood and vegetables, has always enjoyed high esteem in the Chinese market. But that is no longer the case.

The Fumio Kishida government's lack of transparency over the discharging of the nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, which will reportedly start from August, has left all parties, including the Japanese people themselves, in the dark about the harm that may cause to the marine environment. This has raised questions about the safety of Japan's seafood exports.

It is ridiculous for Tetsuro Nomura, Japanese minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, to say at a news conference on Friday that China's practice of strengthening customs inspections on food imported from Japan for safety reasons is "unacceptable".

Instead of engaging neighboring countries, the parties that will bear the immediate brunt of the move, in exploring ways to find a better way to dispose of the radioactive water, Japan only arranged some "field research" for the International Atomic Energy Agency in the hope of obtaining approval from the world's nuclear watchdog for its plan.

Although the IAEA report released late last month endorsed the feasibility of the Japanese plan, the report has quickly become part of the controversy itself for its apparent lack of objectivity and representativeness. The IAEA chief has admitted the agency is not responsible for proving the Japanese plan is the best option, implying the IAEA should not be held accountable for any possible environmental impacts. That's why the IAEA report has aggravated the concerns of the Republic of Korea, China and some Pacific island countries. Instead of lending legitimacy to Japan's plan, the IAEA has suffered a heavy loss to its own credibility as well.

As a veteran agriculture and food expert, with more than 35 years of experience in the sector, Nomura will be well aware that Japan is reaping what the Kishida government has sowed. The news conference was nothing but a stunt to help the Kishida government to divert the anger of the affected Japanese farmers and fishermen from itself to China. The Japanese government has provided them with special compensation long before their produce was boycotted by the international community, which speaks volumes of Tokyo's deep understanding of the harm the radioactive water may do to the marine environment and ecology.

It is the stringent "quality control" of the Kishida government in keeping the risks of its nuclear-contaminated water discharge plan in a "black box" that has ruined the image of Japanese food. Time will tell that what the Kishida government believes to be the most economical way of disposing of the water will prove to be the most expensive one.