Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he would use a one-on-one meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to press Australia's case for $20 billion of economic sanctions to be lifted.
Still looking to lock in a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Mr Albanese says he would welcome talks with China but would use them to try and have the sanctions removed.
As well as the G20 summit in Bali, the prime minister is attending two ASEAN-related meetings in Cambodia and the APEC summit in Thailand.
There has been no formal bilateral meeting between an Australian prime minister and Chinese president since 2016.
"We have some $20 billion of economic sanctions against Australia," Mr Albanese told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
"That is not in Australia's interests in terms of our jobs and the economy but it's also not in China's interests.
"So I'm very hopeful we'll continue to put our case that these sanctions are not justified, that they need to be removed, but we will enter any discussions that take place without any pre-conditions."
Mr Albanese said he would "stand up for Australian values" while seeking greater cooperation with China.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said he hoped the meeting with Mr Xi was secured, but Mr Albanese needed to ensure he did not deviate from Australia's "strategic interest".
"The actions of China in terms of seeking to apply economic coercion through trade sanctions and others are deplorable and the test of meetings and dialogue as they occur will be whether we get outcomes," he told Sky News.
In Phnom Penh, Mr Albanese is expected to catch up with his Cambodian counterpart Prime Minister Hun Sen and attend the ASEAN-Australia summit.
The summit comes as Cambodia and Australia mark the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship.
Jobs, economic growth and regional resilience are expected to be high on the agenda.
Next week, Mr Albanese will join leaders from the world's top economies at the G20 summit in Bali.
It will be the second time the prime minister has travelled to Indonesia since Labor won the federal election in May.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has invited Mr Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver a keynote address at the Business 20 Summit.
Food security, energy and global health will be topics of discussion at the G20.
But the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the state of the global economy is also set to be a major talking point.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to take part virtually.
President Joe Biden will meet the Chinese president on Monday in Bali.
It will be their first face-to-face meeting since Mr Biden became president in January 2021.
The summits will be an opportunity for leaders to discuss the economic instability faced across the globe in the wake of the pandemic.
