Matthew Spiranovic has no plans to leave his Chinese second division club, even if it affects his Socceroos selection chances under coach Ange Postecoglou.
Defender Spiranovic is expected to play a key role for Australia in Thursday's World Cup qualifier against Japan, having earned a recall having not played for the national team since last November.
Postecoglou has made no secret of his desire for the 29-year-old to play at a higher level but Spiranovic said he was committed to Hangzhou Greentown, where he is captain and is guaranteed of regular minutes.
"Of course, you always want to be striving to play at the top level, but then we've seen on occasions when players have gone to big leagues and have lacked the game time and match fitness," he told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
"It's an interesting one. I can only comment for myself, playing regularly and feeling fit and well -- that's the positive I'm taking out of it.
"Obviously it's up to the coach to determine if that's at a high enough level to be involved here."
Spiranovic signed for Hangzhou in 2015 and played alongside Tim Cahill for a few months before his move to Melbourne City.
They were relegated last year and now play in China's League One, but Spiranovic said the standard was higher than most people expect -- and as a defender, he is regularly tested by the likes of former Premier League striker Victor Anichebe and many others with international experience.
"You have to look at Chinese football at the moment," he said.
"A great example would be the Paulinho deal, to come from Tottenham to [Guangzhou] Evergrande and then be sold for $40 million, I think that speaks a lot for what China can potentially bring.
"In the second division there are some very ambitious clubs, firstly striving to get promoted but also striving to make an impact in the first division. You've seen teams do that now that have been recently promoted."
Spiranovic's contract runs to the end of 2018 and said he would only consider a shift away if it benefited both him and the club.
He said he was fit and raring to return to the Socceroos ranks after suffering a severely corked quad in March that took two months to recover.
"Having missed out on a couple of camps it's always nice to come back in," he said.