Geoff Raby also argues Australia should not be throwing stones about trade disputes after "harassing" China with copious anti-dumping investigations.

Mr Raby said navigating human rights concerns was a perennial problem in handling diplomatic relations with Beijing.

He said China "took a different approach to the human rights discussion" than Australia.

Asked how Australia could speak up about issues including Hong Kong and the treatment of Uighurs without inflaming tensions, Mr Raby talked up the importance of private discussions.

"You've got to do both - but the public stuff you have to work out how and when you do it," he told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

Mr Raby also suggested Australia raise concerns less frequently.

"You need to pick the issues, the ones that really matter, or the ones that you think public statements in good company with other countries may have an impact and be heard," he said.

"The main thing with diplomacy is not how loudly you speak but the outcomes you get."

From 1997 until a few years ago, senior Australian and Chinese officials met each year to discuss human rights issues.

Mr Raby, who chaired the annual dialogue several times, said the talks produced progressive change and improvement in China's performance.

"You are better having platforms, a capacity to engage and talk, rather than just be shouting at each other through megaphones," he said.

Australia has lodged about 90 anti-dumping investigations against China in the past decade, compared to a handful in the other direction.

Mr Raby, who was also a World Trade Organisation ambassador, said he was absolutely sure that recent trade strikes from China were a politically convenient way of squaring the ledger.

"The reality is we are all sinners in the church and somehow we get this public mind in Australia that we are cleaner than anyone else," he said.

"We use anti-dumping, always have, as a form of protection.

"There are some legitimate cases, there are formal processes to go through. But if you use that many cases, you're using anti-dumping as trade harassment, and that's part of our trade policy kit."

Mr Raby said China would be "mightily irritated" by Australia's trade behaviour and it was interesting they had not reacted sooner.

"Having that record ourselves, we're living in a glass house, so we shouldn't be throwing stones," he said.

"We have massively exposed ourselves."

Mr Raby, who is a prolific commentator on the bilateral relationship, is also a director of Chinese mining company Yancoal and has a Beijing-based advisory firm.

He is registered on Australia's foreign influence transparency scheme.

Mr Raby said it was for others to judge how his personal interests shaped his public commentary.

Australian Associated Press