HONG KONG: Japanese fisheries minister SAKAMOTO Tetsushi on Friday asked a senior Hong Kong official to lift the Chinese region’s ban on imports of Japanese fishery products.

In their talks during Sakamoto’s visit, Hong Kong Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Cheuk Wing-hing said that discussions on the issue will continue but did not mention any specific steps.

After the meeting, Sakamoto told reporters that he called for the removal of regulations on imports of Japanese foods that have no scientific basis.

According to Sakamoto, Cheuk said he welcomes high-quality Japanese foods and that Hong Kong will continue dialogue on the import ban.

Hong Kong began the measure against fishery products from 10 Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima and Miyagi, in response to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s discharges into the sea of tritium-containing treated water from its stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant that started in August last year.

In 2023, mainland China was the top destination for Japan’s food exports, with a total value of 237.6 billion yen, followed by Hong Kong’s 236.5 billion yen. Fishery products accounted for 40 percent of Hong Kong’s Japanese food imports, at 101.6 billion yen.

Prior to the meeting, Sakamoto visited Food Expo PRO 2024, one of the biggest international food trade fairs in Asia.

JIJI Press