First lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) may visit Fukushima during a trip to Japan next month to preside over the opening of the Tokyo exhibition of National Palace Museum artifacts, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs source said yesterday.
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When Chow is in Japan, she might visit Fukushima — where hundreds of thousands of people continue to be affected by the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the region in March 2011 — to express her support for its recovery, the official said.
The reason the Presidential Office is planning the visit by Chow to Fukushima is to highlight the government’s commitment to ensuring the safety of the nation’s nuclear power plants at a time when the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) has been plagued by widespread doubts over its safety, in addition to getting an understanding of how Taiwanese have assisted with the post-disaster recovery in Fukushima, Storm Media Group reported, without naming a source.
However, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) denied that, saying the trip to Japan would not have anything to do with the nuclear safety issue.
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Since the exhibit of art treasures is being held in Tokyo and in Kyushu, far from Fukushima, what’s the point in considering a visit by the First Lady to Fukushima except to subtly or not-so-subtly suggest that nuclear power is safe, even in the face of disaster?