Can China’s partial lifting of Japanese seafood ban aid a post-Fukushima reset?

Name: China to partially lift ban on Japanese seafood imports from certain regions
Uploaded: 2025-06-30T04:13:36.000Z
Duration: 2 min 8 s
Description: China to partially lift ban on Japanese seafood imports from certain regions

Shipments resume under strict conditions but not from Fukushima and its environs as Beijing seeks closer ties with its neighbours

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China has agreed to partially resume imports of Japanese seafood, with strict conditions, two years after first imposing a ban following the Fukushima disaster. Photo: AFP

Orange Wangin Beijing

Published: 12:13pm, 30 Jun 2025Updated: 8:32pm, 30 Jun 2025

China has partially lifted its two-year ban on Japanese seafood imports in the latest step by Beijing to remove a diplomatic roadblock that has strained ties between the two neighbours.

According to a Chinese customs notice issued on Sunday, shipments of seafood originating from “certain regions” of Japan would resume “conditionally” with immediate effect.

It said the decision was based on ongoing long-term international monitoring and independent Chinese sampling of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water discharges. No abnormalities were found, and Japan was committed to ensuring the quality and safety of aquatic products exported to China, the notice said.

The measure, which covers imports of aquatic products including edible aquatic animals, will not apply to 10 Japanese prefectures: Fukushima, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, Saitama, Tokyo and Chiba.

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China to partially lift ban on Japanese seafood imports from certain regions

Beijing suspended food imports from those areas in July 2023 – before Japan began releasing treated waste water from its damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, despite strong opposition from Chinese authorities.

Can China’s partial lifting of Japanese seafood ban aid a post-Fukushima reset?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shipments resume under strict conditions but not from Fukushima and its environs as Beijing seeks closer ties with its neighbours

Shipments resume under strict conditions but not from Fukushima and its environs as Beijing seeks closer ties with its neighbours