The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will use a speech in front of China's Premier Li Qiang on Monday to declare that both nations are making progress in rebuilding the relationship while saying Australia will not be "silent" on disputes with Beijing.
Premier Li was greeted by hundreds of supporters and protesters when he arrived in Canberra on Sunday, with both sides vowing to mass large numbers of people in front of Parliament House as the premier arrives for high level talks with Mr Albanese.
His visit comes as family members and supporters of jailed Australian academic Yang Hengjun press Mr Albanese to "directly demand" that Dr Yang be released on medical parole, revealing that authorities in China have now "reviewed" and upheld the suspended death sentence he received earlier this year.
"Our most immediate concern is that Yang's medical conditions remain serious and unaddressed," they said.
"There is no transparency and we have no grounds for confidence that he is receiving adequate medical treatment."
They say that Dr Yang is now being moved from a state security detention centre to a permanent prison but is still being troubled by an acute kidney condition.
"Clearly, it is not possible to achieve a stable, respectful bilateral relationship with China while their officials are threatening to execute an Australian political prisoner, without any semblance of due legal process," they said.
They've also revealed that last year Dr Yang fainted while in detention, saying that he was so weak that he was unable to move for 40 days.
Mr Albanese has signalled that he will raise Dr Yang's case with Premier Li, as well as pressing the premier over a series of tense encounters between the Australian Defence Force and China's navy in both the South China Sea and the Yellow Sea.
'Competing views' to be acknowledged
China's premier declared on arrival that the relationship with Australia was now "back on track after a series of twists and turns."
But senior federal government ministers are still using much more cautious language on the relationship — while readily celebrating the fact that China has now withdrawn almost all the trade barriers it imposed on Australia when the relationship hit rock bottom in 2020 and 2021.
Mr Albanese and Premier Li are expected to address a major function at parliament house on Monday, with the prime minister set to declare that both countries "must always be ready to engage with each other as mature nations."
Beijing has responded angrily to Australian criticisms of its crackdowns in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as the federal government's criticisms of China's conduct in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea.
Mr Albanese will acknowledge "competing views" between the countries in his speech, but also say Australia and China still have to "work to find shared opportunities."
"There is much that remains to be done, but it is clear that our nations are making progress in stabilising and rebuilding that crucial dialogue," he is expected to say.
"We won't always agree — and the points on which we disagree won't simply disappear if we leave them in silence."
But the prime minister will not directly raise any of those points of tension in his public remarks in Canberra, simply noting that both Australia and China share "an interest in protecting a stable order in our region" and "a responsibility to build and strengthen the foundation for talking through our differences and for building collaboration in areas where we do find mutual interest."
Trade a key issue
China has also been pressing Australia to back its entry into the sprawling CP-TPP trade pact and to ease Chinese investment into the strategically important critical mineral sector.
So far Australia has shown no appetite on either front: it is refusing so far to publicly endorse China's bid and earlier this month Treasurer Jim Chalmers ordered five international companies linked to China to divest their shares in a strategically crucial Australian heavy rare earths project.
Ben Herscovitch from the Australian National University told the ABC that there was little appetite in Canberra for embracing new forms of cooperation with Beijing, particularly in strategically sensitive sectors.
"Beijing is not going to get anything over the next few days, in concrete terms," he said.
"They're going to pushing on those doors increasingly hard over the coming years ... but Canberra's judgement is for now, China is going to be willing to live with that."
But he said Canberra had still made other concessions to China through inaction: for example by deciding against imposing sanctions on Chinese companies helping Russia's war effort in Ukraine.
"The Albanese government has said that if countries materially assist Russia there will be consequences, and that has been true of North Korea and of Iran, where the Albanese government has imposed sanctions — but it hasn't been true of China," he said.
"Australia has essentially given a free pass to China on that issue while the US, the UK, the EU and potentially Japan are joining on sanctions on Chinese countries providing material support for the Russian military."
"So there's going to be a point where Albanese's position on this is all going to look incredibly awkward."