The prime minister will sit down with China's President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing today for high-profile meetings which are set to be closely watched in both Canberra and Washington.
Anthony Albanese has vowed to raise several deeply contentious issues with China's top leaders, but has also declared that it's critical to deepen economic ties with Australia's top trading partner, while ensuring the bilateral relationship is not defined by its differences.
The prime minister's meetings with Mr Li and Mr Xi come amidst global upheaval, and as Mr Albanese deals with both an unpredictable and demanding Trump administration and an increasingly forceful China intent on establishing regional supremacy.
While the prime minister's exact schedule in Beijing isn't yet clear, one source told the ABC that Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping would have a second engagement on top of the formal meeting which has already been publicly flagged by both countries.
Mr Xi exerts powerful authority in the Chinese political system, and a source familiar with the arrangements told the ABC the second meeting would send a "clear signal of goodwill" towards Australia which would be picked up by elite circles in China.
The ABC asked the prime minister's office for more information about his plans, but a spokesperson declined to comment.
One Chinese political analyst, who asked not to be named due to sensitivities surrounding any public discussion of Mr Xi, said it was obvious that Beijing saw an opportunity to exploit frustrations in Australia over the Trump administration's "America First" agenda on trade and defence.
The prime minister's visit to Shanghai was disrupted on the weekend when news broke that senior Pentagon official Elbridge Colby has been pressing both Australia and Japan to say how they would respond if the US went to war with China, including over Taiwan.
After the news broke, Mr Colby took to social media saying it was time for the US to have "frank conversations" with its allies about "collective defence" and the need to ramp up military spending.
Anthony Albanese told journalists on Monday he was not distracted by the story, saying he remained focused on his meetings in China.
Albanese to broach sensitive topics in meetings
While there will be a sharp focus on the prime minister's meeting with Xi Jinping, Anthony Albanese will hold his more structured annual leaders meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Premier Li Qiang.
Mr Albanese has declared he wants to find common ground with China, but has also signalled that he will defend Australia's national interests on a host of contested issues.
That list is likely to include the Chinese navy's partial circumnavigation of Australia earlier this year, the Chinese government's foreign interference activities in Australia, the plight of jailed Chinese-Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun, and human rights abuses in China.
For its part, China is expected to press the prime minister to ease restrictions on Chinese investment in sensitive sectors, and abandon his election promise to strip the Port of Darwin from the Chinese company Landbridge.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr Albanese told journalists in Shanghai that he would not budge on that issue if Mr Xi or Mr Li tried to apply pressure.
"If it's raised, our position is very clear," Mr Albanese said.
"I'm sure the president is very clear and is knowledgeable of that."
Beijing has also said it would like to expand the free trade agreement between the two countries to include areas like artificial intelligence — a proposal which Mr Albanese has already waved away.
But the two countries are still expected to unveil new agreements in the wake of the high-level meetings, including on renewable energy and climate change.
After he meets Mr Xi and Mr Li, the prime minister will join Australian and Chinese CEOs at a high-profile gathering in Beijing on Tuesday night.
The Australia-China CEO roundtable was revived in Perth during Premier Li's visit to Australia last year, as the government pressed ahead with its "stabilisation" agenda.
But this will be the first time it has been held in China with an Australian prime minister since 2016.
Mr Albanese's expected to tell the high-powered gathering that business cooperation has delivered "profound economic benefits" to both countries, calling the renewed roundtable a "practical demonstration of the benefits of stabilisation."
