Japan last Thursday began dumping treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, despite strong protests from both local bodies and authorities in China and South Korea.

In recent days, many cases of harassing phone calls from China have been reported in Japan.

“The Fukushima City Hall began receiving calls with country code 86, which corresponds to China, on Thursday and those phone calls exceeded 200 the next day, overwhelming phone lines and disrupting the normal work of employees, a city official said.

On the same day, municipal and high schools in the city, which is 60 kilometers northwest of the damaged nuclear plant, 65 similar calls were received.

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Someone who understands Chinese and answered one of these phone calls heard the caller make a comment like: “Why are you dumping polluted water into the Pacific Ocean, which is a sea for all”the municipal official clarified.

Phone calls of this nature have been received by others municipalities, hotels and restaurants since the day the discharge of Fukushima waters into the ocean began, according to Japanese media.

Strong reaction from Tokyo

“Many harassing phone calls believed to be from China are being made in Japan (…) These developments are extremely regrettable and we are concerned,” government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said at a regular press briefing.

The harassing phone calls prompted Deputy Foreign Minister Masataka Okano to summon the Chinese ambassador to Japan to the foreign ministry, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

In a statement, the ministry noted that such calls are also being made to Japanese facilities in China and called on the Chinese government to take immediate appropriate action and guarantee the safety of Japanese citizens.