According to Chinese Ambassador to Russia Liu Guchang, the two sides would finish all practical tasks such as placing boundary demarcations, and half of the islands would formally return to China within 2008. Some observers predicted the historical date could come as early as September.

Liu also said that he was sure China would not station large numbers of military personnel in the area. He said neither of the two sides would make arrangements that might cause tension. According to a Xinhua News Agency report on July 22, the joint exploitation blueprint of the islands can only be approved by the two heads of state.

Besides issuing the agreement, the two foreign ministers highly praised the achievements in the rapid development of Sino-Russian strategic cooperative partnership. They said that President Hu Jintao and President Dmitry Medvedev's meeting in May symbolized a new phase of bilateral partnership. Besides, the two sides decided to improve political mutual trust, enhance strategic cooperation and jointly push forward cooperation in trade, economic, energy, science and technology, cultural exchange and regional cooperation fields, so as to increase bilateral cooperative levels in an expansive way. Moreover, they reached a consensus on finishing the approval procedures as soon as possible.

During their talks, the two sides decided to speed up the implementation of the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation guideline. As part of the plan, meetings and exchanges between high-level government officials would be encouraged. For example, the two presidents are scheduled to meet again within the year, while the two prime ministers will discuss ways of deepening bilateral cooperation at the 13th regular meeting that comes in the latter half of 2008.