US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Beijing on its treatment of Uighurs, Tibetans, and Hong Kong in the first conversation between top officials of the two powers since President Joe Biden took office, AFP reported.

"I made clear the US will defend our national interests, stand up for our democratic values, and hold Beijing accountable for its abuses of the international system," Blinken said on Twitter of his call with senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi.

Blinken told Yang that the United States "will continue to stand up for human rights and democratic values, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong," a State Department statement said of the call, which took place on Friday Washington time.

Blinken also "pressed China to join the international in condemning the military coup in Burma [i.e., Myanmar]," it said.

The top US diplomat said the United States would hold Beijing "accountable for its efforts to threaten stability in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait, and its undermining of the rules-based international system."

Blinken has said he agrees with a determination by the State Department under former US President Donald Trump that Beijing is carrying out genocide in the western region of Xinjiang.