China and Japan have agreed to soon hold vice-ministerial-level talks concerning the ongoing row over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, China's foreign ministry said Friday.

The agreement was reached in Tokyo Thursday between Luo Zhaohui, head of the Asian Affairs Department of the ministry and Shinsuke Sugiyama, director general of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei Friday said during a regular press briefing that the meeting was held to lay the ground for new talks at the vice ministerial level.

"We hope Japan can show good faith in correcting its wrongdoings and take concrete moves to obtain positive progress in the consultations," said Hong.

Japan's Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba Friday welcomed the meeting.

"Japan and China need to think calmly about what to do... even if it takes some time," Gemba said, according to AFP.

"I regard Thursday's meeting as part of the idea. We are continuing communications," he said. However, he struck a cautious note, saying that the matter was not easy.

Asked when the planned meeting would be held, Gemba said details were still being hammered out but that it would definitely take place.

Lü Yaodong, a researcher from the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times Friday that despite great differences between the two sides, it is necessary for both to keep high-level diplomatic exchanges.

Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns is set to kick off a visit on Saturday to five Asian countries, including China and Japan.

US State Department spokeswoman said Thursday that Burns would discuss territorial issues with both China and Japan.

Separately, China's Health Minister Chen Zhu Thursday didn't attend a health seminar on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Tokyo. Chen's absence came after no-shows by China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan and Finance Minister Xie Xuren at the event.

The country's four major State-owned banks also skipped the meetings amid islets rows between the two neighbors.

AFP contributed to this story