Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne’s crucial visit to Beijing this week shows the Chinese government is eager to get its relationship with Australia back on a friendly footing after a year of diplomatic frostiness, China experts say.

Senator Payne’s planned visit - the first by an Australian foreign minister since Julie Bishop in 2016 - comes as the Trump administration cranks up pressure on Beijing over issues such as trade, intellectual property theft and the militarisation of artificial islands in the South China Sea.

Marise Payne meets her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the United Nations in New York in September. Credit:Fairfax Media

Richard McGregor, a China expert at the Lowy Institute, said that in this combustible atmosphere with Washington, Beijing was looking to re-engage with countries such as Australia.

“China is looking for friends in the face of the onslaught of Trump,” he said. “They need friends and partners, particularly on trade, to reinforce their left flank.