BEIJING — 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.

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.

The United States has treated Kadeer's case as a priority ever 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.

Ereli said Thursday that among the "noteworthy" steps taken by China were an agreement to give prisoners convicted of political crimes the same rights as other prisoners, resulting in the release or reduced sentences for a number of prisoners.

China, he added, had also agreed to receive the special U.N. investigator on torture and to let the International Committee of the Red Cross open an office in Beijing by June. He said China had clarified that religious education for minors was consistent with Chinese law and issued regulations allowing worship at home in "family churches" without their being registered.