Japan, China Agree to Advance Talks on Fishery Imports Resumption

Tokyo, March 22 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese and Chinese governments on Saturday confirmed that they will make progress in talks toward the resumption of China's imports of Japanese fishery products.

The confirmation was made during a high-level economic dialogue between Japanese and Chinese government officials held in Tokyo, the first such meeting in about six years since April 2019. Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, chaired the meeting.

China imposed the import ban in response to the release into the ocean of tritium-containing treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

"It was meaningful that we were able to make confirmation about moving ahead with the import resumption-related process," Iwaya told reporters after the meeting.

Regarding exports of Japanese agricultural products such as rice, Iwaya said he told the Chinese side that priority should be given to what can be resolved early.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]