WASHINGTON — China's heir apparent leader defended his county's widely criticized human rights record but acknowledged during his U.S. visit on Tuesday that "there's always room for improvement."

1. Only on msnbc.com
   1. 

      AP
      Campaign still playing out on GOP turf
   2. Was Flame virus that invaded Iran's computer networks made in USA?
   3. 

      NBC News
      Suu Kyi receives ecstatic Thailand welcome
   4. Stray dog follows bikers over 1,100 miles
   5. Greek tragedy: Economic crisis sparks brain drain
   6. UK PM's ex-spin doctor held by cops in perjury case
   7. 1.3 million veterans lack health coverage

Vice President Xi Jinping said he had candid discussions on the issue at the White House, where he met Tuesday with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

Xi told a luncheon at the State Department that China had made "tremendous" achievements on human rights in the past 30 years.

"Of course there's always room for improvement," he said.

He said China was ready to hold a constructive dialogue on human rights with the U.S. and other countries on the basis of mutual respect.

Biden said the U.S. has been clear on areas in which it believes conditions in China have deteriorated and the plight of several prominent individuals.

Obama earlier pressed Xi over his country's huge trade surpluses with the United States and vowed to keep pressure on China to improve its human rights record.

In White House talks, Obama sought to reassure Xi that Washington welcomed China's "peaceful rise" but made clear that tensions remain in a growing economic and military rivalry between the two countries.

Xi's White House visit was the centerpiece of a U.S. trip that may help the Chinese vice president boost his international standing and show he is capable of steering his country's crucial relationship with Washington for the next decade.

Obama sought to balance his desire to make a good start with Xi with the political need to look firm with Beijing in an election year when American voters' anti-China sentiment is running high.

"We have tried to emphasize that because of China's ... extraordinary development over the last two decades, that with expanding power and prosperity also comes increased responsibilities," Obama said as he sat with Xi in the Oval Office.

Martin H. Simon  /  EPA

President Barack Obama meets with Vice President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

"We want to work with China to make sure that everybody is working by the same rules of the road when it comes to the world economic system, and that includes ensuring that there is a balanced trade flow between not only the United States and China, but around the world," he said.

Xi, who is in line to assume the presidency in March 2013, said he looked forward to building a "cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interests." He did not address Obama's veiled criticism of Beijing's policies.

"I hope to engage with a broad cross-section of American society during my current visit," Xi said.

The two leaders smiled and nodded as the other spoke and shook hands during an appearance before reporters.

Xi's visit comes as ties between Beijing and Washington -- the world's two biggest economies -- have been buffeted by strains over trade, currency, human rights and military intentions.

"On critical issues like human rights we will continue to emphasize what we believe is the importance of recognizing the aspirations and rights of all people," Obama said. Chinese leaders traditionally bristle at U.S. rights criticism as meddling in their internal affairs.

Karen Bleier  /  AFP - Getty Images

Taiwanese protesters rally Tuesday Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington, D.C. as Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama hold talks.

Outside the White House gates, about 200 anti-Beijing protesters marched and chanted slogans against China's crackdown in Tibet - an issue that U.S. officials said would figure in the talks with Xi.

At the State Department lunch, Biden noted that human rights would remain a fundamental aspect of U.S. foreign policy and said the United States was ready to compete economically with China but wanted a level playing field.

"The U.S. and China will not always see eye to eye," Biden said, according to NBC News. "It is a sign of the strength of our relationship that we can be candid about our differences as we have been."

"We saw this in the recent U.N. Security Council debate about Syria, where we strongly disagreed with China and Russia's veto of a resolution against the unconscionable violence being perpetrated by the Assad regime," Biden said.