BEIJING (Kyodo) -- China and Japan said Saturday they have held technical talks over Beijing's ban on Japanese seafood imports, which was imposed in August 2023 following the discharge of treated radioactive water into the sea from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The online negotiations on Thursday between China's General Administration of Customs and the Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry followed talks in Beijing in March.

The two Asian neighbors agreed in September 2024 that China's seafood imports from Japan will gradually resume, contingent on China's participation in monitoring activities under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Chinese customs administration said the technical talks do not mean that Beijing will restart imports of Japanese seafood products soon.

China collected marine samples near the Fukushima plant under the IAEA framework in October and February, and did not find abnormal concentrations of radioactive substances in them.