At noon on March 8, 2014, following the instructions of President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as the Chair of the Joint Inter-Ministerial Meeting on safety protection of Chinese citizens and institutions abroad, held an urgent inter-ministerial meeting. He stressed that all ministries concerned should be highly responsible for the people's safety, take actions immediately, coordinating with each other to cope with the loss of contact of the flight bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in a timely manner.

The meeting decided to go all out for the overall emergency response. It is first requested that every country concerned should try their best in search and rescue work, and well manage the relevant works for the Chinese passengers. At the same time, China sent vessels and planes to assist the research and rescue in the relevant areas and asked the passing vessels to provide help. The meeting called for confirming as soon as possible the information of passengers on board and taking care of the family members and relatives of the passengers while informing the public the updates.

Chief officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Commerce, National Health and Family Planning Commission, General Administration of Customs, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), National Tourism Administration, State Oceanic Administration, Civil Aviation Administration, State Council Information Office, other government departments, and Beijing municipality were present at the meeting.