Talks between China's vice minister of foreign affairs and DFAT focus on trade, human rights and 'strategic competition'

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, pictured last year, met with Australian officials on Wednesday. (Reuters: Florence Lo)

Australia has reiterated the importance of stabilising relations with China after a rocky past few years by discussing a wide range of issues during a "significant" meeting with the most senior official from China's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Wednesday.

Ma Zhaoxu, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and a former ambassador to Australia, met with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) secretary Jan Adams in Canberra to discuss topics the two countries rarely see eye-to-eye on, including human rights and strategic competition.