China, Japan, ROK sign 2026-2030 environmental cooperation action plan

China

China, Japan, ROK sign 2026-2030 environmental cooperation action plan

2025-09-29 10:22 Last Updated At：11:37

China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have adopted a new joint action plan on environmental cooperation for the 2026-2030 period, an official said on Sunday.

The plan outlines a series of cooperative activities focused on eight priority areas, laying a solid foundation for trilateral environmental collaboration over the next five years, said China's Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu at the 26th Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting among China, Japan and the ROK which was held on Sunday in Yantai, east China's Shandong Province.

The environmental authorities of the three countries have strengthened practical cooperation to jointly address regional and global environmental challenges, Huang said, noting that they have implemented three phases of such plans, achieving substantial results in air pollution control, sandstorm prevention, and chemical environmental management.

Huang added that enhancing environmental cooperation, advancing regional green development and improving people's environmental well-being align with the shared interests of the three countries, and that China is willing to work with the other two countries to elevate trilateral environmental collaboration to a higher level.

This year's meeting put into action the cooperation consensus reached at the ninth Trilateral Summit Meeting among China, Japan and the ROK in 2024 in areas such as green transformation, sustainable development and climate change.

The Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting among China, Japan and the ROK is an important cooperation mechanism within the framework of the China-Japan-ROK leaders' meeting, as well as the highest-level dialogue platform for environmental issues among the three countries.

The annual environment ministers' meeting has been hosted by the three countries in rotation since 1999.

Japanese lawmaker criticizes nuclear weapons remarks as threat to regional security

A Japanese lawmaker has raised concerns over Japan's push to expand its military and its nuclear policy.

Responding to some politicians' dangerous tendency towards possessing nuclear weapons, Takara Sachika, a member of Japan's House of Councilors, said that Japan's push to strengthen its military, combined with what she called a misguided nuclear policy, not only heightens regional tensions but also directly threatens regional security.

"I think this is completely unacceptable. Japan is a country that has suffered atomic bombings and is one of the nations most aware of the threat posed by nuclear weapons. Yet such a country is openly discussing the issue of possessing nuclear weapons and even attempting to revise the principle of not allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons, one of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. This is an extremely serious problem," Takara said.

Takara said the Japanese government's tendency to expand its military capabilities is completely contrary to the Constitution.

"From the perspective of Japan's Constitution, Japan should never have adopted a policy of ensuring security by strengthening military capabilities. Yet today, enormous effort is being poured into military expansion, and that in itself is a serious problem," said the lawmaker.

At a Diet meeting in early November 2025, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that what she described as the Chinese central authorities' "use of force on Taiwan" could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, and suggested the possibility of armed intervention in the Taiwan Strait, drawing strong criticism worldwide.

Takara urged Takaichi to retract her erroneous remarks as soon as possible.

"I think there is a very big problem with making such remarks that provoke other countries. It is necessary to thoroughly examine the facts as soon as possible and withdraw the relevant remarks," she said.