TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Saturday that he agreed with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi to promote "mutually beneficial and practical" cooperation in areas such as decarbonization and addressing low birthrates.

After talks with Wang in Tokyo, Iwaya told reporters that he conveyed concerns over intensifying Chinese military activities and other provocative moves while voicing Japan's eagerness to host a trilateral summit involving South Korea "by the year-end."

Iwaya also reiterated his nation's request for China to lift its blanket ban on Japanese seafood imports imposed after the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.

Among other demands Iwaya made were the removal of a buoy installed by Beijing within Japan's exclusive economic zone south of Yonaguni Island in the southern prefecture of Okinawa and the early release of Japanese nationals detained by Chinese authorities on espionage allegations.

China's anti-espionage law has been "hurting Japanese firms' business" in the neighboring country, Iwaya was quoted by the Foreign Ministry as saying.

The two ministers, meanwhile, affirmed that their governments will hold a senior official-level security dialogue at the earliest possible date to "deepen communication" in the field, Japanese officials said.

The two ministers cochaired the first Japan-China high-level economic dialogue in six years, following a hiatus mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later held separate talks on the broader bilateral relationship.

The meetings took place with the Asian neighbors exploring ways to stabilize their strained ties, but no major progress was made toward resolving their differences.

It was the first visit to Japan by a Chinese foreign minister since November 2020, when Wang made a trip to meet with Japanese political leaders amid the pandemic.

At the outset of the economic talks, Iwaya said he expects the meeting to "embody" the cooperation between the two countries, pledging to make efforts so that Japanese and Chinese citizens can "feel the benefits" of progress in bilateral relations.

Wang appeared to criticize recent policies of the United States, Japan's close ally, saying, "Unilateralism and protectionism are rampant," in a veiled reference to President Donald Trump's "America First" doctrine and his tariffs.

The two governments agreed in September to gradually resume China's imports of Japanese marine products, contingent upon Beijing's participation in monitoring activities under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The ban was introduced in August 2023, when the water discharge from the nuclear plant into the Pacific began despite strong opposition from China, which cited possible negative impacts on human health and the environment.

Iwaya did not elaborate on the details of Saturday's discussion on the topic. Aside from seafood, he said he asked Wang to resume beef imports and expand rice purchases.

Following the previous high-level economic dialogue in April 2019, Japan and China signed a quarantine pact in November of that year, seen as a key step toward the lifting of Beijing's ban on Japanese beef imports in place since 2001. But talks on the issue have not made substantial progress since, partly due to the pandemic.

Japan has also expressed fears about the safety of its citizens in China. In September, a Japanese schoolboy was fatally stabbed by a Chinese man in Shenzhen.

On the security front, bilateral tensions have been sparked by repeated intrusions by Chinese vessels into Japanese waters around the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are controlled by Tokyo and claimed by Beijing.

(By Keita Nakamura)