US military starts bulk buying Japanese seafood to counter China’s ban

China, which had been the biggest buyer of Japanese seafood, says its ban is due to food safety fears.

“It’s going to be a long-term contract between the US armed forces and the fisheries and co-ops here in Japan,” Emanuel said.

“The best way we have proven in all the instances to kind of wear out China’s economic coercion is come to the aid and assistance of the targeted country or industry.”

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Asked about Emanuel’s comments at a press conference on Monday, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said: “the responsibility of diplomats is to promote friendship between countries rather than smearing other countries and stirring up trouble”.

The first purchase of seafood by the US under the scheme involves just shy of a tonne of scallops, a tiny fraction of more than 100,000 tonnes of scallops that Japan exported to mainland China last year.

Emanuel said the purchases – which will feed soldiers in messes and aboard vessels as well as being sold in shops and restaurants on military bases – will increase over time to all types of seafood. The US military had not previously bought local seafood in Japan, he said.

The US could also look at its overall fish imports from Japan and China, he said. The US is also in talks with Japanese authorities to help direct locally-caught scallops to US-registered processors.

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That has come as top US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have visited Beijing in an effort to draw a line under strained ties.