Foreign Minister Penny Wong has described her meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as an important first step in stabilising the relationship between the countries.
Senator Wong raised the issues of trade sanctions and Australians detained in China during her meeting with Mr Wang on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting in Bali on Friday.
"We spoke frankly and we listened carefully to each other's priorities and concerns," Senator Wong told reporters of the talks.
"As you would expect I raised a number of issues in relation to bilateral, regional and consular issues."
Senator Wong said she raised with Mr Wang the cases of detained Australian journalist Cheng Lei and writer Yang Hengjun, and others.
"Obviously we discussed trade blockages that exist, and that remains the government's position, those trade blockages should be removed and we have said so publicly and our private position reflects that."
China has issued trade sanctions against many Australian products including wine, beef and coal.
Senator Wong said stabilising the relationship would take time, effort, work and nuance, and noted that China's differences with Australia were well known.
"We both recognised it is a first step for both our nations," she said of the meeting with Mr Wang, the first between the foreign ministers of Australia and China since 2019.
"We've got a path to walk and we'll see if it can lead to a better place between the two countries."
Earlier Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said China had changed its position in the past decade to be "more forward-leaning" and "more aggressive".
"We will co-operate with China, but we will stand for Australian values when we must," Mr Albanese told reporters at a joint press conference in Sydney alongside New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
"When we engage in the (Pacific) region, there aren't strings attached. We engage because that is the right thing to do by lifting up the development of our neighbours, we have a responsibility to do that."
Ms Ardern indicated China had been more assertive in the Pacific, but countries in the region should not be forced to choose between who they partner with.
It comes after and seeks similar deals with other Pacific nations.
"It should be the Pacific priorities first and foremost, they should be free of coercion," Ms Ardern said.
"There should be high-quality investment and infrastructure because that's what the region deserves."
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham welcomed the resumed dialogue, but could not explain the change of tone from Beijing.
"It's a matter for the Chinese government to explain why it is they were unwilling to engage in diplomatic dialogue at the ministerial level with the democratically elected government of Australia before but they are doing so now," he told Sky News on Friday.
"We ought to make sure that those ties are fostered and enhanced at every possible opportunity."
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters on Friday "a sound and steady China-Australia relationship is in the interests of both peoples".
"A steady and healthy political relationship is the prerequisite and guarantee for practical cooperation. There is no auto-pilot mode for improving China-Australia relations," he said at a regular briefing in Beijing.
The meeting between Australia and China in Bali comes days ahead of a Pacific islands leaders' meeting in Fiji.
China's push to extend its security ties in the South Pacific, which is opposed by Australia, will be discussed at the meeting in Fiji.
On Friday, Mr Albanese said the Pacific region was in a period of strategic competition and China had become "more aggressive".
"Australia’s position is that we will continue to engage and co-operate, we want to co-operate with China where we can. But we will stand up for Australian values when we must," he told reporters in Sydney.
Penny Wong condemns Ukraine invasion a 'gross violation'
Speaking earlier on the sidelines of the meeting, Ms Wong was among several foreign ministers who rose at Friday's meeting to call out the Russian invasion, which dominated the high-profile summit's agenda.
"We all know that those matters, those key principles, are threatened by Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. It is a gross violation of international law," Ms Wong said.
"It undermines the principles and values that the community of nations have come together to sign up to in the context of the United Nations and the post-war settlement."
"I also want to make this point - Russia alone is responsible for its actions and for the consequences of those actions, including the human and economic suffering that it is causing."
She said Russia had also disregarded the need for food and energy security as the world struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ukraine's foreign minister has been invited to speak at the meeting, despite that country not being a member of the G20 nations.
The meeting is the first at which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov faces off with some of his country's biggest critics over what Russia calls its "special operation" in Ukraine.
