(Update 2) China to Resume Japanese Beef Imports

   Osaka, July 11 (Jiji Press)--A Japan-China 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, formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, in Japan. In 2019, the two governments signed the 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 Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in the western Japan city of 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.

(2025/07/11-21:49)