Anthony Albanese has confirmed he will hold formal talks with China's President Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting on Tuesday.
The prime minister revealed the meeting would occur just after landing in Bali, while speaking to the media on the tarmac.
It will be the first formal bilateral meeting between an Australian leader and the Chinese president since Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister in 2016, although Scott Morrison had a brief discussion with Mr Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in 2019.
The announcement came after Mr Albanese met China's Premier Li Keqang at a gala dinner in Cambodia on Saturday night – a conversation the prime minister said was "polite".
Following that brief chat, Chinese state media said China was "ready to meet Australia halfway" on repairing the strained relationship.
"Australia will put forward our own position, I look forward to having a constructive discussion with President Xi tomorrow," Mr Albanese said.
On whether the prime minister was hopeful Beijing's trade sanctions on Australian products would be lifted, Mr Albanese was circumspect.
"We enter this discussion with goodwill, there are no preconditions on this discussion, I'm looking forward to having constructive dialogue," he said.
"I've said since I became the prime minister, but before then as well, that dialogue is always a good thing.
"We need to talk in order to develop mutual understanding."
Mr Albanese was asked whether he would use the opportunity to pressure the Chinese president to take a harder line on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"We have a very clear position, and it's a consistent position," he replied.
"There is a need for Russia to withdraw from this aggressive action, that is against international law and that is creating hardship – particularly, of course, in Ukraine – but is also damaging the international economy and damaging international food security."
Mr Li said there was a traditional friendship between the people of China and Australia.
“The bilateral relationship has gone through a period of hardship and twists and turns," he said.
"After you [Mr Albanese] became the prime minister of the new Labor-led Australian government, you said that the Australian side wanted to work together with China to push Australia-China relations back on the right track.
"The Chinese side is also willing to work with Australia to meet each other halfway and take the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to promote the sustainable, healthy and stable development of China-Australia relations.”
On Sunday, Mr Albanese met US President Joe Biden in Phnom Penh – the issue of China's ambition in the Asia Pacific one of the topics of discussion.
After those talks, the White House's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Mr Biden "was able to coordinate with the Australian Prime Minister" on issues relating to China.
Mr Albanese was reluctant to divulge details of his discussions with the President.
Mr Biden and Mr Xi are meeting in Bali on Monday evening, Australia time.
