Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday hailed a "positive" meeting with Chinese premier Li Keqiang -- the first in-person encounter between leaders of the two countries since 2019.

Albanese, whose Labor government is keen to scrape the ice off of Canberra's frosty relationship with Beijing, spoke to Li at a gala dinner on Saturday night at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Phnom Penh.

"I had a great conversation with Premier Li. It was very positive and constructive," Albanese told reporters on Sunday.

Ties with Beijing had hit an all-time low in recent years under the previous conservative government in Australia.

China whacked Australia with trade sanctions costing billions of dollars in merchandise and service exports after Canberra called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison was the last Australian leader to speak with Li and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019.

Saturday was the first time Li and Albanese met in person, and they discussed the 50-year anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic ties.

"I think it's a good thing that it happened. I've said repeatedly about the relationship with China -- that we should cooperate where we can and that dialogue was always a good thing," Albanese said.

Asked if he thought China was looking to recalibrate its relationship with other countries, he answered: "We should cooperate with China where we can and that's what we're doing."

Albanese hopes to secure a meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the coming G20 summit in Bali, but the appointment has yet to be confirmed.

Albanese also had a 40-minute meeting in Phnom Penh with US President Joe Biden, who has said he would seek to identify the "red lines" in his country's relations with Beijing when he holds talks with Xi at the G20 on Monday.

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told Asian leaders on Sunday that China is continuously, and increasingly, taking actions that infringe on Japan's sovereignty and escalate tensions in the region.

Addressing the East Asia Summit in Cambodia, Kishida also said ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was important for regional security, and voiced "serious concern" over the human rights situation of the Uyghur people, according to a statement issued by Japan's foreign ministry.

"There has been continued, increasing actions by China in the East China Sea that violate Japan's sovereignty. China also continues to take actions that heighten regional tension in the South China Sea," Kishida told the meeting, according to the statement.

Kishida's remarks follow those of US President Joe Biden, who stressed to Asian leaders on Sunday the importance of peace in the Taiwan Strait and ensuring freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

China denies any abuses of the Uyghur, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority based in the far western Xinjiang region, and has sent a government delegation to Geneva to counter what it says are erroneous findings by the UN rights office.

Kishida is in Cambodia to attend the East Asian summit, which groups eighteen countries accounting for half of the global economy including Japan, the United States, China and Southeast Asian nations. He will also join the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Bali that kicks off on Tuesday.

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