Japan and China are planning a meeting of top officials early next month to discuss a range of maritime issues, with a top agenda item likely to be the early launch of a communication mechanism to help avert accidental clashes in the East China Sea, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

The two Asian giants, which have been stepping up efforts to repair strained relations, are putting the final touches on a Dec. 7-9 meeting to be held in the southern Chinese port city of Xiamen, the sources said.

The meeting, the first since 2012, would be the fourth of its kind as Tokyo and Beijing seek confidence-building measures between senior diplomats and defense officials. The last meeting was held in January in Yokohama.

In Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Nov. 1, both sides agreed to accelerate the process of setting up the so-called maritime and aerial communication mechanism between defense officials.

Despite lingering tensions over the Japanese-controlled, China-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, the two nations have agreed on improving efforts to avert accidental clashes in and above the nearby waters.

At the upcoming meeting, senior Japanese officials are also expected to raise China's unilateral gas field development near the median line between its shoreline and that of Japan in the East China Sea.

In July, Tokyo unveiled a map and aerial photographs of 12 offshore structures as evidence of the Chinese action and urged the country to immediately halt the work, saying that it runs counter to the spirit of a 2008 accord between the two nations on joint gas development in the area.