BEIJING: China and Japan reached a consensus in August on the discharge of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday.

The two sides agreed on Japan establishing a long-term international monitoring arrangement and allowing stakeholders to conduct independent sampling and monitoring, the ministry said in a statement.

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China stressed during talks that independent sampling should be conducted first before “gradually” resuming any imports of Japanese aquatic products, the statement added.