China says it will resume importing Japanese seafood

China said Friday it would "gradually resume" importing seafood from Japan aft imposing a broad prohibition successful August of past twelvemonth implicit the merchandise of h2o from the disabled Fukushima atomic plant.

"China volition statesman to set the applicable measures based connected technological grounds and gradually resume imports of Japanese aquatic products that conscionable the regularisation requirements and standards," a overseas ministry connection said.

Chinese and Japanese officials precocious conducted "multiple rounds of consultations" connected the discharge of h2o from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi atomic powerfulness station, the ministry said.

It said Japan had committed to "fulfilling its obligations nether planetary law, doing its utmost to debar leaving [a] antagonistic interaction connected quality wellness and the environment, and conducting continuous evaluations of the interaction connected the marine situation and marine ecosystems."

In 2011, 3 reactors astatine the Fukushima-Daiichi installation successful northeastern Japan went into meltdown pursuing a monolithic earthquake and tsunami that killed astir 18,000 people.

Since then, works relation TEPCO collected h2o contaminated arsenic it cooled the wrecked reactors, on with groundwater and rainfall that had seeped in.

Fierce backlash

Japan, successful precocious August 2023, began discharging treated contaminated h2o from the Fukushima works into the Pacific Ocean successful an cognition it insists is safe, a presumption backed by the U.N. atomic agency.

The release, however, generated a fierce backlash from China, which branded it "selfish" and banned each Japanese seafood imports.

China's overseas ministry said successful its connection Friday that Tokyo welcomed the constitution of a "long-term planetary monitoring statement wrong the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) model covering cardinal stages successful the discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water."

"Both sides hold to proceed to person constructive, science-based dialog with a large consciousness of work for the ecosystem, the environment, and quality beingness and health," it added.

Around the aforesaid clip arsenic the announcement, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tokyo had "informed the Chinese broadside of its readiness to transportation retired further monitoring of the... treated water, portion the Chinese broadside has decided to... steadily reconstruct imports of Japanese fishery products that conscionable definite standards."

Despite the gradual resumption of seafood imports, a spokeswoman for Beijing's overseas ministry said China inactive "resolutely opposes" Japan's discharge of h2o from Fukushima.

"First of all, China resolutely opposes the Japanese side's arbitrary discharge [of contaminated water] into the sea," spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular property conference, adding, "This presumption has not changed."

China imported implicit $500 cardinal worthy of seafood from Japan successful 2022, according to customs data.