WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States is holding talks with China about its "deep and considerable" concerns about what officials describe as a crackdown on dissent in China.
The two days of talks at the State Department were winding up Tuesday.State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Monday that American officials planned to encourage China during the talks to ratify and abide by the U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
China signed the covenant last fall. Critics charge that repression has increased since then.
The treaty states that all people have the right of self-determination. It prohibits torture, cruel or degrading punishment and provides for freedom of movement, thought, religion and expression, among other things.
A recent wave of arrests in China has produced calls from some members of Congress for a more assertive U.S. policy on China. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a leading administration critic, has called American policy "a pathetic failure."
Harold Koh, the assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labor, is leading the U.S. delegation to the human rights talks.