WASHINGTON — When Hillary Rodham Clinton made her first trip to China in 2009, barely a month into her tenure as secretary of state, she said that American concerns about human rights should not interfere with other pressing global issues on which the United States and China could find common ground. Human rights advocates were appalled, and under orders from the White House, Mrs. Clinton softened her remarks the next day.

But her candid admission reflected the cold calculation that continues to shape President Obama’s foreign policy when it comes to championing rights and freedoms abroad. Quiet diplomacy and compromise, administration officials argue, are sometimes more effective, if less satisfying morally, than thunderous public condemnation.

The administration’s strategy, already under fire from critics on the left and the right, now faces its most public test as Mrs. Clinton arrives again in Beijing for talks that are certain to receive far less attention than the uncertain fate of a Chinese lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, who escaped a brutalizing, illegal house arrest and has sought protection from American diplomats in the Chinese capital.

“This is a remarkable and possibly unprecedented opportunity for the United States to express sympathy and support for someone who is a folk hero now in China,” said Sophie Richardson, the China director for Human Rights Watch.