China to Working Towards Easing Seafood Import Ban, says Japanese PM

China agreed to revisit its ban on marine imports from Japan, following an expansion of regulatory monitoring of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday.

Japan is releasing water exposed to nuclear contamination at the Fukushima plant, while longtime opponent China calls for strict monitoring of the move.

China claims the release will endanger the fishing industry and coastal communities in eastern China.

The claims have not been backed up by scientific data and are tinged by long-running political disputes between the sides dating from Japan’s occupation of parts of China in the first half of the last century.

Fukushima’s cooling system was damaged during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, causing meltdowns in its three reactors.

The Tokyo Electric Power Holdings Co. has been trying to decommission the plant.