By Shaun Tandon

http://www.uscirf.gov/administrator/index2.php?option=com_content

The US-China dialogue comes shortly after the eruption of ethnic violence in China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang province, which left at least 192 people dead.

Leonard Leo, head of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan government advisory body, said the dialogue offered an opportunity as China would ignore any separate talks focused only on human rights.

"China will only take human rights concerns seriously when they are discussed at the highest levels and in tandem with other strategic interests," Leo said.