By Arshad Mohammed
BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States and China must work together in dealing with the global financial crisis, climate change and North Korea, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Beijing on Saturday.
"It is, in our view, imperative that the United States and China cooperate on a range of issues from the economy to global climate change to development and so much else," Clinton told Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during talks.
On Friday, Clinton said Washington would press China on human rights but added that this would not keep them from working together on a range of issues such as the financial crisis and how to respond to the security threats posed by North Korea.
Clinton's visit to China is the fourth and final leg of a tour of Asia that has also taken her to South Korea, Indonesia and Japan. It is her first trip abroad as secretary of state.
Earlier, Yang said the world faced a series of "major and pressing" challenges.
"The larger situation requires our two countries to strengthen dialogue ... and work together to elevate our relationship to a new level," Yang said.
The United States has long accused China of human rights abuses and pressed Beijing to grant greater autonomy to Tibet.
In a 1995 speech in Beijing, Clinton openly criticized China's human rights record.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Clinton's comments on Friday had undermined human rights reform in China and sent the wrong message to the Chinese government.
"Secretary Clinton's remarks point to a diplomatic strategy that has worked well for the Chinese government -- segregating human rights issues into a dead-end dialogue of the deaf," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
"A new approach is needed, one in which the U.S. engages China on the critical importance of human rights to a wide range of mutual security interests."
Clinton will also meet President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday.
High on the agenda will be how to get North Korea to fulfill its commitments to dismantle its nuclear arms program and well as recent threats by the reclusive state to carry out missile tests. China is the nearest North Korea has to a powerful ally.
(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim, Editing by Dean Yates)
