Beijing ? Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday sought further help from China in getting North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks and aired U.S. concerns about Beijing’s bellicose rhetoric on Taiwan.

As part of a two-day visit to the Chinese capital, Rice took time to attend a Palm Sunday church service at one of the city’s few state-sanctioned churches. Although Rice has said the United States is not satisfied with the extent of religious freedom in communist China, she did not make that point explicit on Sunday.

China was the final stop on a weeklong tour of Asian capitals for Rice, and it was the most delicate for America’s new chief diplomat. President Bush’s second-term pledge to carry democratic ideals around the globe has met with suspicion in China, where government control remains a strong and constant fact of daily life.

The United States is cooperating with China on several fronts, including six-nation talks over North Korea’s nuclear program. But Washington has complaints about China’s record on human rights, its treatment of dissidents and the rampant piracy of movies, books and other intellectual software.

“There is a lot we can do that is constructive with China, but of course we have our differences,” Rice said before flying from South Korea to China.

The United States wants China to use its leverage on North Korea, but Washington’s leverage over China is limited. Rice pressed the North Korean nuclear issue in a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, a State Department official said.

The United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China began a joint diplomatic effort with North Korea last year aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear program.

But those talks, hosted by China, stalled in September. North Korea pulled out, has refused to return to the discussions and announced last month that it has built at least one nuclear weapon.