Human Rights Watch Tuesday called upon the U.S. delegation visiting China to insist on rights benchmarks during its talks with the Beijing government.

The international rights group said Washington should use the annual human rights forum to force Beijing to change its policies that violate human rights in the country.

The delegations from the two sides will kick off the talks in the Southern Chinese city of Kunming Tuesday and continue through Wednesday.

This is the first exclusive talks on human rights between the two countries since Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, assumed power in March.

The U.S. government earlier this month had raised the issue of China's human rights record at the sidelines of a summit in Washington with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi but Beijing hit back saying people in China enjoy "unprecedented" freedom.

"The most important human rights dialogue in China is the one the government should be having with citizens who are calling for their rights to be respected," said Sophie Richardson, China director. "But in this realm the new authorities are showing bad faith."

The delegation from the United States would also meet with officials and the civil society in Beijing, according to the U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

"The promotion of human rights remains a key tenet of US foreign policy, including toward China, and we are committed to continuing candid and in-depth discussion with the Chinese government on this issue," said Jen Psaki in a statement.

"The Human Rights Dialogue provides an important opportunity to elaborate on our concerns about China's human rights record and to encourage progress, building on engagement on this topic throughout the year," said Jen Psaki.

Washington has been successful in restarting a dialogue between Palestine and Israel and even persuaded Israel to release more than a hundred prisoners as a goodwill gesture.

Asked if Washington would make such an effort to end the ongoing human crisis in China including the Tibetan self-immolations, many Chinese overseas human rights activists said, "China is not Israel, and it is much more powerful than it used to be decades back."