Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan said he raised the cases of two detained Australians while he was on a five-day trip in China.
Journalist Cheng Lei has been detained in China since August 2020 and is accused of leaking state secrets, while writer Yang Hengjun was arrested in January 2019 and the case against him has never been publicly disclosed.
Mr McGowan said the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu reached out and asked if he wanted to have a meeting, and he said yes.
"Prior to having the meeting, I contacted the federal government to say is there anything they'd like me to raise," he said.
"So I went to the meeting, I had a long and productive meeting with Minister Ma, the best part of an hour.
"On a couple of occasions, I raised the matters surrounding those people and said it would be in the interests of both countries if the matter could be resolved as soon as possible and if they could be returned to Australia."
Mr McGowan said the vice minister was aware of the issues.
"He said it was helpful that I raised it and that he would look further into the matter." Mr McGowan said.
"Obviously people raising the issue, like myself, hopefully is helpful in getting the matter resolved."
The visit was Mr McGowan's first to China since the coronavirus pandemic.
The premier said he also had a receptive audience in China when he raised the issue of tariffs on Australian products.
Mr McGowan said he spoke on behalf of all Australian producers, and it was a topic of discussion with economic agencies, and the vice minister for foreign affairs.
"The argument basically is this, the tariffs they put on our goods basically increases the price the wine and crayfish and beef in China, and it hurts producers here.
"So no-one is a winner and I think there's broad acceptance of that.
"Getting through bureaucratic processes and so forth in China probably takes some time but hopefully they'll be resolved soon."
The premier also sought to correct reports that he had called for the Albanese government to consider holding national cabinet in China.
Mr McGowan said he had suggested that the prime minister consider taking a delegation of premiers and chief ministers to China, but had never said there should be a meeting of national cabinet.
He said he had expressly ruled it out when asked and had texted the prime minister to ensure he knew the claim was misreported.
