Senior Chinese and Japanese diplomats met recently in Shanghai to discuss how to improve bilateral relations amid the ongoing row over the Diaoyu Islands, Japan's chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Wednesday.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Fujimura said the meeting was "part of the communications going on between Japan and China in various forms and at various levels." He did not offer any other further details, according to Kyodo News Agency.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Tuesday that China and Japan have been in consultations over the island dispute, during which Chinese officials made clear China's position and its resolve in safeguarding its national integrity.

Fujimura's confirmation of the meeting came after Japanese media reported earlier that Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai secretly visited Shanghai over the weekend and held talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun over the dispute, Kyodo reported.

Citing government sources close to the matter, Kyodo reported Wednesday that the two sides agreed in the meeting that China and Japan would continue to hold dialogues to avoid any unforeseen events and calm the recent tensions.

"China and Japan do need to find a way out of the dispute at the moment because the longer the row goes on, the bigger the damage it will bring to various fields of bilateral ties," Feng Zhaokui, deputy president of the China Association of Sino-Japanese Relations, told the Global Times, adding that Japan needs to make more efforts to find a solution to the issue.

The row with China, the world's second-largest economy, has prompted the Bank of Japan to cut its outlook for economies in the region, Reuters said.

Feng said that while keeping diplomatic contacts with Japan over the dispute, China should also continue with actions to reaffirm its sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.

Five Chinese maritime surveillance vessels were seen sailing in waters around the Diaoyu Islands on Wednesday for the fifth straight day, the Japan Coast Guard said.

The normalization of the sailing of Chinese maritime surveillance vessels in areas near the Diaoyu Islands would be an effective measure in countering any Japanese provocation on the issue, Feng noted.

Beijing-Tokyo relations soured after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet decided to "purchase" the Diaoyu Islands in mid-September by "buying" a part of the islets from private owners.

The move angered China, which repeatedly urged Japan to respect the fact that previous generations of leaders from the two countries had reached an agreement to shelve the dispute.

Kawai and Zhang also held talks on September 25 in Beijing, which were requested by the Japanese side.