BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's Foreign Ministry confirmed the third round of high-level consultations on maritime affairs between China and Japan on Wednesday.

The talks, held between officials from both countries' foreign ministries, defense ministries and other maritime affairs departments, are being held in Japan and will last three days, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a daily press briefing.

The China-Japan high-level consultations on maritime affairs were set up in January 2012 with the first round of talks held in May of the same year in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province.

The second round of talks was held last September in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province.

According to Hua, the high-level talks are a comprehensive way to coordinate and communicate between maritime affairs departments of the two countries.

The two sides exchanged views on East China Sea-related affairs as well as maritime cooperation under the mechanism, she added.