Foreign Minister Penny Wong will push China to lift trade sanctions, free detainees and highlight security concerns on Wednesday, when she becomes the first Australian minister to travel to Beijing in more than three years, in the latest step towards stabilising the relationship.

As business leaders hailed the visit, government sources played down the prospects of an immediate breakthrough on the trade bans or the plight of the detained Australians, journalist Cheng Lei and author Yang Hengjun.