BEIJING (Kyodo) -- A group of Japanese ruling bloc lawmakers led by the secretaries general of the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito on Monday began a three-day visit to Beijing, during which they will meet with members of China's Communist Party.

Hiroshi Moriyama of the LDP and his Komeito counterpart, Makoto Nishida, are scheduled to join a regular dialogue between the governing parties of Japan and China that will be held Tuesday for the first time since October 2018.

The trip comes as the two Asian neighbors seek to stabilize ties that have been strained by a host of issues. It follows talks between Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing in December.

During the party-level dialogue, Japan is expected to call on China to lift a ban on imports of Japanese seafood at an early date. The ban was imposed following the release of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in August 2023.

The two sides are also expected to discuss concerns such as the safety of Japanese nationals living in China following the fatal stabbing of a Japanese boy in Shenzhen last September.

The dialogue between the ruling parties of Japan and China was first held in China in 2006.

Separately, China's Defense Ministry said Monday a delegation of the military's Eastern Theater, which covers security in the East China Sea, will visit Japan in mid-January for exchanges with senior officials of the Japanese Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces.

The visit is aimed at enhancing mutual understanding and trust as well as boosting bilateral defense exchanges, the ministry said. It will follow an agreement between Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun and Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani in Laos in November to promote bilateral defense dialogue.

Between late November and early December, a group of senior SDF personnel made a nine-day visit to China for exchanges with the People's Liberation Army.