Jim Yardley | New York Times
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BEIJING, March 17 - In steps apparently aimed at improving the diplomatic climate before a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, China released its most prominent Muslim political prisoner on Thursday, and the Bush administration said it would not seek to censure China at the United Nations Human Rights Commission's annual meeting in Geneva.

The release of the prisoner, Rebiya Kadeer, 58, was praised in Washington by Adam Ereli, a State Department spokesman, who also listed what he said were several recent "improvements" in China's human rights record.

Ms. Kadeer was freed on a medical parole and was headed to the United States, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, the San Francisco-based human rights organization involved in the release.

[Rueters reported that Ms. Kadeer arrived in Chicago late on Thursday and thanked the United States government for her release.]

The group's executive director, John Kamm, said the Chinese government wanted the release to be completed by the time of Ms. Rice's visit. She is due to arrive Sunday.

The United States has treated Ms. Kadeer's case as a priority since she was sentenced to eight years in prison in March 2000 for "illegally providing state intelligence abroad." She is a member of the predominantly Muslim Uighur ethnic group in western Xinjiang Province. Her crime was sending newspaper clippings about the treatment of Uighurs to her husband in the United States.

The United States and China still have not officially resumed a human rights dialogue that broke off last year, but the two moves on Thursday reflected what American officials said was an increased tempo of discussions on the subject. Last month, the State Department criticized China in its annual review of human rights. China responded with a critical report about human rights in the United States.

Mr. Ereli on Thursday cited several "noteworthy" steps taken by China to improve its human rights record. He noted that China had agreed to receive the special United Nations investigator on torture and to let the International Committee of the Red Cross open an office in Beijing. He also said China had agreed to allow political prisoners to have the same rights to parole and sentence reductions as other prisoners.

Ms. Kadeer is a women's rights activist and a businesswoman who served on the top advisory board to China's Parliament. In 1997, she founded the Thousand Mothers' Movement to promote job training for Uighur women.

Chinese security officials singled out Ms. Kadeer because of the political activism of her husband, who lives in the United States and advocates for greater freedoms for Uighurs, said Amnesty International. In August 1999, Ms. Kadeer was arrested as she was traveling to meet a group of American Congressional staff members. Amnesty International welcomed Ms. Kadeer's release but said she "should never have been in prison in the first place." Catherine Baber, the group's deputy Asia director, said in a statement that many other political prisoners remained jailed in China.

American officials have been pushing for the release of Zhao Yan, a researcher in the Beijing office of The New York Times, who was detained six months ago on charges of leaking state secrets. The Times has strongly protested Mr. Zhao's arrest and said he had not been involved in disseminating state secrets.

Steven R. Weisman contributed reporting from Washington for this article.