Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that a "healthy and stable" relationship with Australia served each country's interests, and that it was important to move forward with strategic ties.

Mutual benefit is what China wants, Xi told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the first Australian leader to visit Beijing since 2016, as both men met at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of the Chinese capital.

A strong relationship between China and Australia "will be beneficial into the future," Albanese told Xi in their second face-to-face talks in a year.