The US military in Japan has started to bulk buy the country’s seafood in response to China banning the products after the release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant.
The US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said Washington may also look into other ways to help counter China’s ban.
He described the ban as being part of Beijing’s “economic wars”.
China, which had been the biggest buyer of Japanese seafood, says it has barred imports due to safety fears.
Last year Japan exported more than 100,000 tons of scallops to China. The first purchase under the scheme is a fraction of that – just under a metric ton of the shellfish.
Mr Emmanuel told the Reuters news agency it is the start of long-term contract that will over time to all types of seafood.
The purchases will be used to feed military personnel and be sold in shops and restaurants on military bases.
“It’s going to be a long-term contract between the US armed forces and the fisheries and co-ops here in Japan,” Mr 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,” he added.
The American military had not previously bought Japanese seafood in Japan and Washington may also look at its fish imports from Japan and China, Mr Emmanuel said.
In response to Mr Emanuel’s comments, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a news conference on Monday: “the responsibility of diplomats is to promote friendship between countries rather than smearing other countries and stirring up trouble”.
In recent months, Mr Emanuel has spoken out about various issues including China’s economic policies and its treatment of foreign businesses.
The comments come even as top US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have visited Beijing in an effort to ease tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.
Since the 2011 tsunami which severely damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant, more than a million tonnes of treated waste water has accumulated there.
The Chinese import ban came despite Japan saying the water was safe, and many scientists agreeing. The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog also approved the plan.
Tokyo has also stressed that similar releases of waste water are common from other nuclear power plants in China and France.
Japan makes regular reports to show that the seawater near Fukushima is showing no detectable levels of radioactivity.
On Sunday, trade ministers from the Group of Seven (G7), an organisation of the world’s largest so-called “advanced” economies, called for the immediate repeal of bans on Japanese food.