China state paper blasts Japan over nuclear crisis

Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday asked Mr Kan to 'promptly and accurately inform China' about developments in the crisis, state media said, after Tokyo upgraded its emergency to a maximum seven, on a par with the Chernobyl disaster. -- PHOTO: AFP

BEIJING - JAPAN owes its neighbours an apology for failing to tell them about the severity of its nuclear crisis, a Chinese state newspaper said on Wednesday, accusing the West of letting Tokyo off the hook.

The English-language Global Times, which has ties to the ruling Communist party, also rounded on the West for engaging in double standards by treating Japan with kid gloves due to its status as a key US ally.

The government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan 'made a mistake in withholding the truth,' the Global Times said in a commentary, saying Tokyo had engaged in a 'cover-up' of what happened at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant.

'The Kan administration owes a serious official apology to neighbouring countries,' it said.

Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday asked Mr Kan to 'promptly and accurately inform China' about developments in the crisis, state media said, after Tokyo upgraded its emergency to a maximum seven, on a par with the Chernobyl disaster.

Beijing has repeatedly asked that its neighbour be transparent about the impact of the March 11 accident at the facility north-east of Tokyo, which was triggered by a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami. 

-- AFP