Japan's foreign minister seeks "positive" direction in bilateral ties during his visit to China

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya met with top Chinese leaders Wednesday during his visit to Beijing, the first since the heads of the two countries met at a summit in Peru last month, in an effort to make positive inroads in the bilateral relationship.

The two neighbors have had a tense relationship in recent years. At the top of Iwaya's agenda is China’s ban on Japanese seafood in response to the release of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as well as China’s increasingly assertive military activity in the East and South China Seas.

Iwaya met with China's premier, Li Qiang Wednesday as well as Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart.

"Currently the China-Japan relations are at a critical period of improvement and development,” said Li, in his remarks. “ China is willing to work together with Japan to move towards the important direction proposed by the leaders of the two countries.”

"I want to build a relationship where the people of both countries feel that Japan-China relations have developed and progressed in a positive direction," said Iwaya, ahead of his meeting with Wang.

His trip comes just before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is to take office in January.

Tokyo considers the Japan-U.S. alliance the lynchpin of its diplomatic and security policies, a tone emphasized in the past four years under U.S. President Joe Biden’s direction, but it’s unclear how Trump will impact the alliance.

Japan has revamped its approach to defense i n response to Chinese actions in recent years, boosting military spending and shifting away from a principle of self-defense. Earlier this year, Japan protested when a Chinese military plane flew into Japan's airspace, while in the summer, a Chinese survey ship sailed into Japanese territorial waters.

While how U.S.-China relations come out under the Trump administration is unclear, Japan is seeking stability in its relationship with its neighbor and hopes to develop ties in areas of mutual interest, including the economy and the elderly care industry.

Iwaya told reporters before his departure Tuesday that he will also hold bilateral high-level people and cultural exchange talks, joined by the education ministers from the two sides.

“The relationship with China, our neighboring country, is one of Japan’s most important,” Iwaya told reporters Tuesday. Though there are many issues and concerns, Japan and China share a variety of possibilities, he said. “The two countries share important responsibilities for the peace and prosperity of the region and the international society.”

Iwaya, a security expert, is also expected to reiterate his concern about Japanese nationals detained in alleged spying allegations.

Japan maintains that the water discharged from the Fukushima plant is treated and diluted to levels much safer than international standards and adequately monitored, but China calls the water contaminated.

Japan and China agreed in September to work toward easing the seafood ban by allowing China in multinational sampling missions under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Chinese experts joined an IAEA monitoring mission to Fukushima in October, when China took water samples from the sea just off the coast of the Fukushima plant, as well as the water discharge system on the plant, for analysis.

However, no breakthrough is expected during Iwaya’s visit.

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AP writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo.