China's foreign ministry says Chinese researchers are analyzing samples of seawater collected near Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The ministry's spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters on Tuesday that the samples recently arrived in China, and research institutes are conducting tests and analyses. He added that their results will be announced soon if there is any progress.

Japan and China have agreed that Beijing will gradually resume imports of Japanese seafood based on additional monitoring of the plant's treated and diluted water under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In October, institutions in three countries, including China, collected seawater samples near the plant.

The Chinese foreign ministry announced last month that the leaders of China and Japan agreed to put the accord into action as soon as possible after their bilateral summit in Peru.

The plant in northeastern Japan suffered a triple meltdown following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Water used to cool molten fuel at the plant has been mixing with rain and groundwater. The accumulated water is being treated to remove most radioactive substances, but still contains tritium. Before releasing the treated water into the ocean, the plant's operator dilutes it to reduce tritium levels to about one-seventh of the World Health Organization's guidance level for drinking water.