China will partially resume importing seafood from Japan in an apparent move to ease trade frictions and strengthen bilateral ties, despite heightened military tensions between the two countries.

“Resuming exports to China of marine products — an important export item for our country — is a major turning point,” agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Monday.

China announced the partial lifting late Sunday, the first relaxation since August 2023, when Beijing issued a blanket ban on imports following Tokyo’s release of wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Following an agreement between the two countries on technical requirements necessary to resume Japan's exports, the Chinese government issued a notice that they would allow imports from certain areas of Japan.

“Procedures to reregister Japanese export-related facilities will begin, and exports to China will resume in due course,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki told a news conference Monday morning.

The import resumption will not include seafood originating from 10 prefectures, including Fukushima and Miyagi, as well as Tokyo.

“The government intends to continue strongly urging China to remove import restrictions on marine products from the remaining 10 prefectures, as well as on Japanese beef,” Aoki said.

The Japanese government had been working to reach an agreement with China, having implemented additional monitoring under an International Atomic Energy Agency framework last September.

In late May, China agreed to resume shipments under the conditions that all facilities involved in the exports be registered and that the products be accompanied by inspection certificates for radioactive cesium and iodine, as well as proof of origin and clearing of sanitary standards.

The move is believed to be part of China’s long-term goal of strengthening ties among neighboring countries, with Japan being a major focus.

“They have been saying for a while that they're going to lift the restrictions, so I think they were just waiting to see when and in what order to make a move,” said Akio Takahara, distinguished visiting professor at Tokyo Woman's Christian University and an expert on Sino-Japanese relations.

“China wants to stabilize relations with Japan as much as possible, especially now that strategic competition with the U.S. is getting tougher,” he added.

Continuing to exclude 10 prefectures could also be part of China’s process to ease restrictions step by step, Takahara said.

But given that the Chinese government had sold the narrative to its people that the treated water was “nuclear-contaminated,” Beijing needed time to have its own experts assess the water and show its people that the products are safe, according to former Japanese Ambassador to China, Yuji Miyamoto.

Progress on the seafood ban comes amid China-U.S. competition, with Beijing’s attention laser-focused on the two superpowers’ rivalry and U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign.

“Thanks to Trump, Japan-China relations haven’t been hit by major issues recently, aside from some commotion over the Senkaku Islands,” said Miyamoto, who is currently chairman of the Miyamoto Institute of Asian Research. “So it was not unnatural to choose this moment to make this announcement.”

Nevertheless, Miyamoto said that the decision was less about trade tension with the U.S. than it was the culmination of efforts to address the issue following a Japan-China leaders’ summit last November.

The move, welcomed by Tokyo, was also seen as an attempt by Japan to balance economic ties with China, its biggest trading partner, against growing security concerns.

China has in recent months unnerved Tokyo by sending forces deeper into the Pacific Ocean — including for exercises involving its two operational aircraft carriers in waters near Japanese territory. Those military exercises prompted a rare close encounter between the Chinese and Japanese militaries, when Chinese fighter jets made two “abnormal approaches” close to Maritime Self-Defense Forces surveillance aircraft, risking collisions.

Beijing was widely seen as having used the moves to test Japan’s reactions while also eroding long-held norms.

However, Miyamoto said that the easing of the seafood ban and concerns on the security front should be viewed as separate matters.

“Bilateral issues are incredibly complicated and cross over many fields — one issue cannot dictate the entirety of their relationship,” he said. “Just because they have security issues does not mean they can halt moves on economic issues.”

Ultimately, both sides have sought to balance their relationship, taking what Tokyo Woman's Christian University’s Takahara said is a “two-pronged approach.”

“Strategically, there is a competitive relationship, and since Japan is allied with the U.S., China sees Japan and the United States as one and the same,” he said. “At the same time, Japan and China are cooperating in various areas, particularly in the economy, and China does not intend to break off this relationship.”

Staff writer Jesse Johnson contributed to this report.