China to ease ban on Japanese seafood imports soon
TOKYO: Japan's government said Friday that China has agreed to begin procedures to resume imports of Japanese seafood, lifting a ban imposed after the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.
Chinese authorities are expected to issue a public notice easing the blanket ban in place since August 2023 and soon open registration for Japanese facilities that process and preserve marine products, Kyodo news agency reported sources familiar with the matter said.
It may take a few months for shipments of Japanese seafood to China to begin as the registration process must be completed and the products must pass radiation checks, the sources said.
However, restrictions on food imports from 10 Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, imposed after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the nuclear disaster, will remain in place, according to the sources.
In September last year, the two governments agreed to gradually resume seafood trade on condition that third-party countries would monitor the water discharge from the nuclear plant. China had strongly opposed the discharge, citing potential risks to human health and the environment.
Following the agreement, China collected marine samples near the Fukushima plant under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency and did not find abnormal concentrations of radioactive substances, according to Kyodo.
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