On November 10, 2021, Director-General of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Hong Liang and Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Takehiro Funakoshi co-chaired the dialogue between the heads of the delegations of China-Japan high-level consultations on maritime affairs via video link.

The two sides made candid and in-depth exchanges of view on maritime affairs and stressed the full implementation of the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries in their recent phone conversation in an effort to turn the East China Sea into a sea of peace, cooperation and friendship. Both sides confirmed that both countries will abide by the spirit of the four-point principled consensus between China and Japan, strengthen dialogue and consultation on maritime affairs, manage conflicts and differences in constructive ways, promote practical cooperation in defense, environmental protection, search and rescue, fishery, disaster prevention and personnel exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and trust, reduce doubt, misunderstanding and miscalculation, and maintain maritime peace and stability. China reiterated its solemn and just stand on the issues concerning the situation on the Diaoyu Islands and the East China Sea, and urged Japan to earnestly respect China's sovereignty and security concerns and refrain from taking any actions that may complicate the situation.

The two sides spoke positively of the video dialogue between the heads of the delegations, and agreed to continuously bring the role of the dialogue between the heads of the delegations of high-level consultations on maritime affairs as the main channel for maritime communication and dialogue into full play and strive to hold the 13th round of China-Japan high-level consultations on maritime affairs within the year.