Australia protests China's jail visits ban

Australia is "protesting vigorously" against a ban on consular visits to jailed citizens introduced in China as a massive wave of COVID-19 swept the country.

Diplomats have not been able to visit detainees like Australian-Chinese journalist Cheng Lei and writer Yang Hengjun since September, after China enforced a total ban on consular access - for all countries to all prisoners - due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Australia's Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher said consular officials were particularly focused on regaining access to detained citizens.

"At the moment because China is experiencing a (COVID-19) surge, it has unfortunately stopped regular (consular) access to all prisoners ... for all countries. We are protesting vigorously about that," he told reporters in Beijing.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong's trip to China is the first ministerial visit Mr Fletcher has hosted since former trade minister Simon Birmingham travelled there in November 2019.

The ambassador said he believed Australia was in "good position now" to "repair" the relationship and collaborate on "worthwhile" initiatives.

"There are lots of things that Australia and China can work well together on ... like climate change, renewables (and) health," he said.

Mr Fletcher said in recent years "China has learned that Australia has a sense of itself and a national interest".

The ambassador said he believed once COVID-19 had gone as an impediment to international travel, people-to-people connections between China and Australia through business, tourism and education would resume.

Mr Fletcher said he was looking forward to future trade, ministerial, state premier and business leader visits as travel restrictions eased.

Vaughn Barber, chair of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, also spoke to reporters.

Mr Barber welcomed the diplomacy-thawing trip by Senator Wong.

"The opportunity to stabilise relations is highly welcomed by the Australian business community here in China," he said.

"This is a positive step forward."

Mr Barber said Australian businesses operating in China had identified the troubled bilateral relationship as a top risk affecting their investment decisions there.

He said he was "cautiously optimistic" on the prospects for further improvements next year.