WASHINGTON (CNN) -- China and the U.S. clashed Wednesday when Beijing refused access to a Tibetan spiritual leader after Washington delivered stinging criticisms on human rights abuses.

The souring of relations came at a time when the often icy Sino-U.S. relationship appeared to be thawing with this week's talks on human rights in Washington -- the first since 1995 between the two nations.

A Chinese official said Beijing regretted negative comments by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on human rights abuses and pointed out that if the United States pressed for a resolution critical of China in the U.N. Human Rights Commission this year, it could damage bilateral relations and jeopardize further human rights dialogue.

In past years, the United States has avoided seeking a resolution against China but Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh, who led the U.S. side in the talks, warned Washington may take a new tack when the U.N. commission meets in Geneva in March.

The dialogue will resume in Beijing late this year and Koh said he had asked to see the Tibetan boy named by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the previous Panchen Lama. The boy, who disappeared with his family in 1995, is now 9 years old.

Wang Guangya, the assistant foreign minister who led the Chinese side in the talks, told a news conference on Wednesday at the Chinese Embassy in Washington that the boy and his family did not want visits and that precautions were necessary for the sake of their safety.

"The so-called designated Panchen Lama and his family are in good condition. Therefore, I think, at the request of the family members, they do not need to be disturbed," he said.

"The events surrounding the designation are politically sensitive. The safety of the family and the young boy is of concern so we have to respect the views of the family members. Precautions are always necessary," he added.

The Chinese authorities have designated their own Panchen Lama but few Tibetans recognize the child as legitimate.

Koh, giving his own account of two days of talks in Washington, described them as frank and candid.

"We laid out a unified position on how the recent steps have imposed obstacles to our bilateral relationship," he told a briefing. "Human rights is not a marginal concern of ours in the bilateral relationship. It's central to the relationship."

"We forcefully raised our concerns about the current human rights situation in China, including the recent disturbing and counterproductive ... sentencing of democracy activists for the peaceful expression of their political beliefs," he said.

"I don't think that it had been made so vividly clear to them how much the different pieces of the American government, as well as public opinion here, is joined in a belief that the recent actions are wrong and ought to be reversed," he added.

Asked what he told China about the Geneva meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Koh said: "We said we were considering a range of responses and that one of them, currently under discussion, is Geneva."

The United States decided not to censure China in Geneva last year in exchange for a Chinese commitment to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Human rights organizations and members of Congress, angry at the arrest of Chinese who tried to set up an alternative political party, are pressing the Clinton administration to take a more assertive attitude at this year's meeting.

But Wang said such a resolution was bound to fall short of passing. "Anyone who wants to resume the Geneva scenario would not only damage bilateral relations but also the possibility of the continuation of the dialogue," he added.

Commenting on Albright's remarks, Wang said: "It's a regrettable event."

Albright made her comments spoken in her toast at a reception at the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Tuesday evening commemorating 20 years of diplomatic relations with China.

Albright told her hosts that peaceful political expression was not a crime or a threat. "We are profoundly distressed by the unjustified prison sentences recently imposed upon a number of Chinese who tried to exercise that right," she added.

Veteran activist Xu Wenli was sentenced to 13 years in prison on December 21 on subversion charges for trying to set up the Chinese Democratic Party. Party activist Wang Youcai received an 11-year term the same day.

The next day, Qin Yongmin was jailed for 12 years for his role in forming the party. At least a dozen other party activists have been interrogated and could face arrest.

"They are criminals," said Liu Xiaoming, the deputy Chinese ambassador. "They have violated the criminal code of China."

Wang said the Chinese side asked the Americans about aspects of the U.S. judicial system, such as race, police violence, prison conditions and the rights of children.

"No country can claim its human rights record is 100 percent perfect so all have to make efforts to improve their record," he added.

Koh said the Chinese also brought up the death penalty in the United States and the racial composition of the prison population, which is disproportionately African American.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.