China's record on religious freedom has been singled out by a senior US official who has demanded Beijing be kept under pressure.
Robert Seiple, ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, told congressmen 'our collective' efforts on behalf of 'persecuted minorities' had had little effect on Beijing.
'This has not been an easy time in our relations with China. It has remained consistently bad,' Mr Seiple told a human rights subcommittee of the House of Representatives' International Relations Committee.
Mr Seiple's comments came during a hearing on the State Department's first report on international religious freedoms.
The report - which could lead to eventual sanctions amid a political environment increasingly focused on religious issues - covers 194 countries but puts China among just seven 'regimes of particular concern'.
The other six are Burma, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Serbia and the Taleban in Afghanistan.