Japan, China Agree to Start Regular Talks on Food Safety

November 10, 2018

Beijing--Japan and China on Friday agreed to start regular meetings of minister-class officials mainly on food safety.

The agreement was reached at a meeting in Beijing between visiting Japanese agriculture minister Takamori Yoshikawa and Ni Yuefeng, minister of China's General Administration of Customs, which manages food imports and exports.

Yoshikawa asked for a removal of China's import ban on foods made in Fukushima and nine other prefectures introduced in response to the 2011 nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 power station.

China bans imports of agricultural, forestry and fisheries products made in the 10 prefectures, also including Miyagi, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Niigata and Nagano.

Last month, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Beijing will consider easing the restriction.

Yoshikawa failed to elicit a clear promise to remove the ban at the day's meeting with Ni.Jiji Press