Japan says China will resume Japanese seafood imports
People shop for sushi and sashimi at a Japanese supermarket in Beijing in August 2023, shortly before a blanket ban on Japanese seafood was put in place.
By Mari Yamaguchi
China will resume Japanese seafood imports that it banned in 2023 over worries about Japan's discharge of treated but slightly radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, a Japanese official said Friday.
The issue has been a significant political and diplomatic point of tension for the wary Asian powers.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the two sides reached an agreement after Japanese and Chinese officials met in Beijing and the imports will resume once the necessary paperwork is done.
'Seafood is an important export item for Japan and a resumption of its export to China is a major milestone," Koizumi said.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya also welcomed the move, saying, 'It will be a big first step that would help Japan and China to tackle a number of remaining issues between the two countries," such as disputes over territory, trade and wartime history.
But officials said China's ban on farm and fisheries products from 10 Japanese prefectures including Fukushima is still in place and that they will keep pushing toward their lifting.
China's General Administration of Customs issued a statement saying the two sides held "a new round of technical exchanges on the safety issues of Japanese aquatic products ... and achieved substantial progress' Thursday but did not mention an agreement.
China blocked imports of Japanese seafood because it said the release would endanger the fishing industry and coastal communities in eastern China.
Japanese officials have said the wastewater must be released to make room for the nuclear plant's decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks. They say the treatment and dilution will make the wastewater safer than international standards and its environmental impact will be negligible.
Friday's announcement is based on 'a shared recognition' between the two nations that Beijing would take steps toward ending the ban by joining water sampling missions by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency.
Tokyo and Beijing since March have held three rounds of consultations on the issue before reaching the agreement on Thursday on the 'technical requirements' necessary for Japanese seafood exports to China to restart, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It did not say how long it may take before the actual resumption.
Since March, Tokyo and Beijing have conducted technical consultations on the resumption of Japanese seafood exports to China
The March 2011 nuclear meltdowns followed an earthquake and tsunami. There were meltdowns in the plant's three reactors, causing large amounts of radioactive water to accumulate in their basements. The water release has been a milestone for the plant's battle with an ever-growing radioactive water stockpile that officials say has hampered the daunting task of removing fatally toxic melted fuel debris from the reactors.
The wastewater was treated and heavily diluted with seawater to reduce the radioactivity as much as possible before Japan began discharging the wastewater in August 2023.
Last September, then-Prime Minster Fumio Kishida said the two sides reached 'a certain level of mutual understanding' that China would start working toward easing the import ban and join the IAEA expanded monitoring of wastewater discharges.
People inside and outside Japan protested the initial wastewater release. Japanese fishing groups said they feared it would further damage the reputation of their seafood. Groups in China and South Korea also raised concerns.
Mainland China used to be the biggest overseas market for Japanese seafood, accounting for more than one-fifth of its seafood exports, followed by Hong Kong, making the ban a major blow to the fisheries industry. But experts said the ban's impact on overall trade was limited because seafood exports are a fraction of Japan's total exports.
Japan's government has set up an emergency relief fund for Japanese exporters, especially scallop growers, and has sought alternative overseas markets.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings has said the utility would compensate Japanese business owners appropriately for damages suffered by export bans.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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