By Sakura Murakami
TOKYO (Reuters) -&nbsp;Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday he explained&nbsp;Japan's stance on the&nbsp;release&nbsp;of treated&nbsp;radioactive&nbsp;water&nbsp;from the Fukushima nuclear plant to Chinese Premier&nbsp;Li&nbsp;Qiang on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Indonesia.
Japan&nbsp;started releasing the&nbsp;water&nbsp;from the wrecked plant into the ocean last month, drawing strong criticism from China. In retaliation, China has imposed a blanket ban on all aquatic imports from&nbsp;Japan.
A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years earlier.
Kishida told reporters he spoke briefly with&nbsp;Li&nbsp;ahead of a session at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Jakarta.
"During the chat, I explained&nbsp;Japan's position on the treated&nbsp;water&nbsp;to Premier&nbsp;Li," Kishida said.
Kishida avoided commenting directly on whether he had sought the&nbsp;lifting of the ban on&nbsp;Japan's seafood, repeating that he had explained&nbsp;Japan's position. He added that nothing had been decided on whether he would talk with&nbsp;Li&nbsp;again on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) summit later this week.
Li&nbsp;stated&nbsp;China's&nbsp;position on the&nbsp;water&nbsp;discharge in the conversation,&nbsp;China's&nbsp;foreign ministry said on Thursday.
"The disposal of the&nbsp;water&nbsp;bears on global marine environment, public health and the interest of posterity," ministry spokesperson Mao Ning quoted&nbsp;Li&nbsp;as saying at a regular press briefing.
Li&nbsp;said&nbsp;Japan&nbsp;should meet its international obligations, consult stakeholders fully, including neighbouring countries, and handle the matter in a responsible way.
He also called on&nbsp;Japan&nbsp;to work with China to improve their relations, Mao said.
The talk between Kishida and&nbsp;Li&nbsp;marked the first time the two had met in person,&nbsp;Japan's foreign ministry said. It was also the first high-level talk between the two countries since the&nbsp;release&nbsp;of the&nbsp;water&nbsp;from the nuclear plant north of Tokyo.
A visit to China by the head of&nbsp;Japan's junior coalition party in late August was postponed as relations soured sharply following the&nbsp;water&nbsp;release.
Japan&nbsp;says the&nbsp;water&nbsp;is safe after being treated to remove most&nbsp;radioactive&nbsp;elements except for tritium, a radionuclide difficult to separate from&nbsp;water. It is then diluted to internationally accepted levels before being&nbsp;released.
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(Reporting by Sakura Murakami and Rocky Swift; Additional reporting by Andrew Hayley and Ethan Wang in Beijing; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Nick Macfie)

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Japan PM speaks to China's Li about radioactive water release