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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to raise trade tariff and human rights issues in his landmark meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later today.
Albanese, the first Australian prime minister to set foot on Chinese soil in seven years, said he was "very positive" about the anticipated talks.
He has vowed to be forthright with Xi when they meet tonight AEDT time.
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"What he can expect from me is the continued patient, calibrated and deliberate way of engaging, and what I expect from President Xi is the same," Albanese said.
In Shanghai yesterday, Albanese also stopped by the China International Import Expo to help showcase the produce of more than 250 Australian companies, including crayfish and beef producers.
From the outset of his prime ministership, Albanese had demanded that China immediately lift what he described as "unjustified" official and unofficial trade barriers costing Australian exporters $20 billion a year.
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Those barriers have since been substantially reduced and now cost about $2 billion.
Albanese is also expected to raise the jailing of Australian pro-democracy blogger Yang Hengjun, who has been detained in China without conviction for almost five years.
"I'll be saying that Dr Yang's case needs to be resolved and I'll be speaking about his human rights, the nature of the detention and the failure to have transparent processes," Albanese told reporters in Darwin on Saturday, shortly before his plane departed for Shanghai.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry this week defended Yang's prosecution, saying his case had been handled in strict accordance with the law.
