Australian and Chinese officials are meeting in the Chinese capital, Beijing, for annual human rights talks known as The Dialogue.
Our China correspondent John Taylor reports the talks were first held in 1997 as a way of addressing human rights issues of mutual concern.
The day-long talks began this morning in a hotel near Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official, Dr Geoff Raby, is heading Australia’s delegation, which includes the president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
It is expected the delegation will have much to talk about with their Chinese counterparts, after a recent warning by the US of a worsening human rights record in China this year.
The US cited concerns about the execution of a Tibetan without due process, the arrests of democracy activists and harsh sentences given to internet essayists and labour protesters.
