By Liz Lee and Sakura Murakami BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) -Seafood trade is expected to be on the agenda on Wednesday as Japan's foreign minister visits China, Japan's largest export market for aquatic products until Beijing banned them in protest against Tokyo releasing treated radioactive wastewater into the ocean.

Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Peru, and the two sides agreed to work together to comprehensively advance the strategic relationship of mutual benefit between China and Japan and endeavor to build a constructive and stable China-Japan relationship fit for the new era.

BEIJING: Chinese Premier Li Qiang said China-Japan relations are at a crucial stage of improvement and development during a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Beijing on Wednesday

Noting that China-Japan relations are at a crucial stage of improvement and development, Li said China is willing to work with Japan to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries,

Japan's top diplomat Takeshi Iwaya expressed "serious concerns" to his Chinese counterpart over Beijing's increasing military activity, Tokyo said Wednesday. Iwaya also told Wang Yi in Beijing that "Japan is closely monitoring the Taiwan situation and recent military developments", a Japanese foreign ministry statement said.

In his first visit to China in the post, Iwaya unmistakably tried to make his tentative hosts feel assured of the Shigeru Ishiba government's readiness to reboot the dormant Sino-Japanese relations that had frosted over due to the previous Fumio Kishida government's one-sided pro-US policy.

The number of Chinese medium-range ballistic missiles, capable of striking U.S. bases in Japan, has increased by 300.

China and Japan agreed that Beijing’s top diplomat should visit in 2025, adding to signs the two nations are repairing ties that have been strained in recent years.

The military strength of China vs. Japan has been a consideration for centuries, especially after World War II. As far as countries go, they aren’t exactly friendly towards each other. China’s growth as a country has led to the modernization of its military forces.

The Japan-China top level diplomatic meeting comes as the Chinese government has been trying to smooth relations not only with Japan, but with other nations in the region including India.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya has met with top Chinese leaders during his visit to Beijing, the first since the heads of the two countries met at a summit in Peru last month.