Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- China's government said it's willing to resume a dialogue with the U.S. on improving human rights after a five-year halt, taking a step to prevent rights advocates from boycotting Beijing's Olympic Games in August.

``The Chinese side is willing to keep contact with the U.S. in all areas,'' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said today at the end of a Beijing press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, neither elaborating nor giving her the chance to respond. ``We're ready to resume the dialogue.''

Chinese President Hu Jintao wants to prevent the world's largest sporting event from becoming a pressure point on issues from political freedom to China's role in Sudan and Myanmar. Director Steven Spielberg on Feb. 12 quit as an artistic adviser for the games' opening and closing ceremonies, citing his concern over China's failure to help end Sudan's ethnic conflict.

``The Olympics, which is a great gathering for the Chinese and the people of the world, shouldn't be politicized or subject to boycott for political reasons,'' the Chinese foreign ministry's spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a separate press briefing today in Beijing. ``That's against the general will of the people of the world.''

China and the U.S. suspended their human rights dialogue in 2003 after the U.S. State Department cited the execution of a Tibetan and the arrests of pro-democracy activists as ``troubling incidents'' that showed China was ``backsliding'' on human rights. China's government, which owns all broadcasters and newspapers in the country, has also been criticized for stifling press freedom.

Rights Talks, Sudan

``I have expressed to the minister our continuing concern about human rights and religious freedom in China, the importance of resuming a human rights dialogue between the U.S. and China, that we do this in a spirit of respect, that these issues are very near and dear to America,'' Rice said today before Yang announced China's willingness to resume human rights talks.

No date has been set for resuming the talks, Rice told reporters later in the day as she prepared to travel on to Japan tomorrow on a three-nation East Asia tour that began yesterday in Seoul.

She said she raised three human rights cases in her meeting with Yang, including that of Hu Jia, an activist who was detained in December and formally arrested in January on a charge of `incitement to subvert state authority.''

Earlier Discussions

The State Department earlier this month said it had raised the case with the Chinese government several times and that Hu Jia had ``consistently worked within China's legal system to protect the rights of his fellow citizens.''

In western Sudan, ethnic and political violence has claimed the lives of as many as 400,000 people and left an estimated 2.3 million homeless, according to the Save Darfur Web site. China is in a position to help because the country is also Sudan's largest trading partner, with investments in oil fields, the site said.

PetroChina Co., controlled by state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., has been developing oil fields in Sudan since 1996. China's government has repeatedly urged ``patience'' and ``dialogue'' in resolving the Darfur conflict.

U.K. foreign secretary David Miliband, visiting Hong Kong and mainland China this week, also pressed for the Chinese government to improve the country's human rights and use its financial and political clout to ``take more responsibility'' to help end the humanitarian atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region.

North Korea

China, the world's most populous nation and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, was urged to play greater roles in ending Iran's nuclear program, spur North Korea to quicken its disarming process and help restore democracy in Myanmar.

The Chinese government has been hosting the so-called six- party process, which secured North Korea's agreement last year to end its nuclear program in exchange for cash and fuel aid.

``We are at the cusp of something very special here,'' Rice said today. ``I'm expecting from China what I'm expecting from others: that we use all influence possible with the North Koreans to convince them that it's time to move forward.''

Timing

One stumbling block in the talks is the timing of steps that the U.S. and North Korea have pledged to take in this second phase of denuclearization, said Rice, who also discussed North Korea with President Hu in a meeting later in the day.

Pyongyang shut down its Yongbyon plutonium reactor last year in the first phase of the negotiations, which also involve South Korea, Japan and Russia. The second stage requires disabling the facility, a procedure that's underway, and a full and accurate accounting of the reclusive country's nuclear program, including possible links to Syria.

North Korea has complained that the other partners in the talks haven't moved quickly enough on their promises to reciprocate with fuel aid and removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

``There are a lot of discussions going on about how to synchronize the end of phase two, and about how to have all sides in a position to fulfill their obligations,'' Rice said. ``Everybody's talking about that.''

U.S. and Chinese officials also discussed the UN Security Council's attempt to draft a resolution ``that demonstrates to Iran that it should not continue to defy the international community'' with its nuclear program, Rice said.

Iran Negotiations

China Petrochemical Corp. in December signed a $2 billion agreement to exploit Iran's Yadavaran oilfields as a way of fueling the rapidly growing Chinese economy. The Chinese government has balked at adopting a hard-line policy on Iran, saying it should use a ``dual-track approach'' to end the Iranian nuclear program.

``At the end of the day, the results can only be achieved by peaceful negotiation,'' Yang said.

In return for China's support on Iran and North Korea, Rice reiterated the U.S. government's reluctance to support Taiwan's bid to join the UN. Taiwan, administered separately from China since 1949, has been seeking to return to the UN after losing its seat in the world body to the People's Republic of China in 1971.

Taiwan's UN Referendum

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party is seeking a referendum on March 22 during the island's presidential election to apply for UN membership under the name Taiwan. The opposition Kuomintang wants to join the UN using the island's official name the Republic of China.

The Chinese government, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, regards the island's UN membership as an attempt to secede and has said it won't rule out an armed invasion to assert control.

The referendum ``shouldn't be held,'' Rice said today. The best way forward is ``a peaceful resolution to the issue of the Taiwan Strait,'' she said. ``I also repeated that this referendum would not be constructive and would serve no useful purpose.''

U.S. President George W. Bush will visit China during the Beijing Olympics from Aug. 8 through 24, Rice said.

``We have a very large and very important agenda and we feel it is our responsibility to carry that agenda forward,'' Rice said. ``I look forward to our discussions on a range of issues, bilateral issues and global issues'' that need cooperation ``to contribute to a peaceful and secure environment,'' she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Viola Gienger in Beijing on vgienger@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 26, 2008 09:28 EST