Osaka –

A bilateral agreement needed for China's resumption of Japanese beef imports took effect on Friday, the Japanese government said Friday.

China suspended Japanese beef imports in 2001, following an outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan. In 2019, the two governments signed an animal health and quarantine agreement, but the Chinese side was slow to complete procedures to put it into effect.

Friday's announcement came after Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Osaka earlier in the day. Moriyama is also head of a suprapartisan group of Japanese lawmakers promoting Japan-China friendship.

"We saw a step forward," Moriyama said in a lecture the same day. "It will lead to the first beef exports to China in 24 years."

Meanwhile, a senior Japanese agriculture ministry official said that it remains to be seen when China will actually lift the import ban, as quarantine-related technical talks are ongoing.

At their meeting in Peru in November last year, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to resume Japanese beef imports.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, also exchanged opinions on implementing the agreement during their meeting in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Moriyama requested a new loan of giant pandas to Japan during Friday's meeting with He. The Chinese vice premier said that working-level officials are coordinating on the matter.

Currently, there are only two giant pandas in Japan — both at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo — after four were returned to China from Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture late last month.

On Friday, He also attended an event marking China's national day at the 2025 Osaka Expo.