On September 23 and 24, 2014, China-Japan high-level consultations on marine affairs were held in Qingdao City of Shandong Province. China's chief delegate and Deputy Director-General of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yi Xianliang and Japan's chief delegate and Deputy Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry Makita Shimokawa respectively led a delegation to attend the meeting.

Departments of China including Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, National Energy Administration, State Oceanic Administration, China Coast Guard, and General Staff Department and Departments of Japan including the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Fisheries Agency, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Coast Guard, Ministry of the Environment, and Ministry of Defense respectively sent officials to attend. The two sides exchanged views on issues concerning the East China Sea as well as on maritime cooperation, and agreed in principle to restart consultations on maritime liaisons mechanism between the defense departments of China and Japan. The two sides agreed in principle to hold the next round of high-level consultations on China-Japan marine affairs at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year.

China and Japan established the mechanism of high-level consultations on marine affairs in January, 2012, and held the first round of consultations in May of the same year in Hangzhou City of Zhejiang Province.