US voices concern at crackdown in China

Mr Biden and Mrs Clinton jointly raised the issue at the opening session of two days of high-level talks between the US and China.

They noted the large number of arrests, with the government detaining lawyers, activists, journalists and bloggers in a crackdown widely viewed as a Chinese response to forestall any Middle East-style democracy protests.

Mr Biden said president Barack Obama believed strongly that protecting fundamental rights and freedoms was "the best way to promote the long-term stability of any society".

Dai Bingguo, one of the leaders of the Chinese delegation, said China had made progress in the area of human rights.

The remarks were made during an opening ceremony of this year's US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. The two days of talks will bring together top officials in the areas of economics and foreign policy.

The discussions were begun in 2006 during the Bush administration to put pressure on China to allow its currency to rise in value against the dollar.

The Obama administration in 2009 expanded the talks to cover foreign policy. This year, military leaders from both nations are participating in an effort to ease tensions that were heightened last year by US arms sales to Taiwan.

During the opening session on economics, US Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner played down his recent criticism that China needed to move more quickly to allow its currency to rise in value against the dollar.