China's top diplomat has suggested that the issue of Beijing's import restrictions on Japanese seafood may see progress. China has been analyzing treated and diluted water being discharged from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Moriyama Hiroshi and former Lower House Speaker Kono Yohei among others in Tokyo on Sunday.
Moriyama is head of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union. Kono is currently president of the Association for the Promotion of International Trade, Japan.
Sources say Wang revealed during the meeting that the results of China's analysis from an additional monitoring of the discharged water will be released shortly.
Wang suggested if no problem turns up in China's latest analysis, it will likely lead to progress in resolving the issue of import restrictions. However, he didn't disclose when imports would resume or other details.
The monitoring was conducted under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency as a precondition for China's phased resumption of seafood imports from Japan.
China suspended imports right after the nuclear plant began discharging water into the ocean in August 2023.
Water used to cool molten fuel at the Fukushima plant has been mixing with rain and groundwater. The accumulated water is being treated to remove most radioactive substances, but it still contains tritium.
Before releasing the treated water into the ocean, the plant's operator dilutes it to reduce the tritium level to about one-seventh of the World Health Organization's guidance level for drinking water.
The sources also say Moriyama conveyed to Wang his intention to visit China as early as late April as the chair of the friendship union.