Japan's Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa says he intends to have working-level discussions with China and South Korea about resuming tripartite summit talks.

Hayashi told reporters on Tuesday that he and China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, agreed to restart the process when they met in Indonesia earlier this month.

He said the three countries share a great responsibility for regional peace and prosperity, so it's very important that their leaders meet and discuss various issues about the region.

The three countries had been taking turns hosting summit talks until December 2019. But the meetings were suspended, partly due to cooled relations between Japan and South Korea and the pandemic.

Hayashi also referred to China's opposition to the Japanese government's plan to release treated and diluted water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean.

He said he will strongly demand that debates based on scientific evidence be held on the issue.

Water used to cool molten nuclear fuel mixes with rain and groundwater. The accumulated water is treated to remove most radioactive substances, but tritium remains.

The Japanese government plans to dilute the water to reduce the level of tritium to about one-seventh of the World Health Organization's safety standard for drinking water.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says that Japan's plan to release the water into the ocean would be consistent with international safety standards.