By Lawrence McQuillan

BEIJING, Sep 5 (Reuter) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's sharp criticisms of human rights in China sparked jubilation among rights activists Tuesday but risked offending Beijing when relations with Washington are said to be at a 16-year low.

Clinton said China's bid to limit debate at a U.N. conference on women was "indefensible" and attacked Beijing's abortion policies as a violation of human rights.

"It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will," she told the conference.

She also said, "If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights."

China kept a stony silence on the criticism. The official media did not report her remarks and barely mentioned her presence in Beijing.

Western human rights and women's groups applauded the speech at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in which the U.S. First Lady also lambasted her Beijing hosts for restricting attendance at a grassroots women's forum near the Chinese capital.

She also took aim at female infanticide and coercive family planning and defended freedom of speech.

Chinese officials routinely blast the United States for raising human rights as a way of subverting the Chinese Communist government.

Clinton does not speak for the White House, but as the wife of the U.S. president her comments would strike home in Beijing.

Her hard-hitting speech came after Sino-U.S. relations plunged to what Beijing has called their lowest point since they were established 16 years ago, chiefly over disputes about the friendly U.S. policy toward Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province.

In an interview later with reporters, Clinton played down the obvious strains her speech would put on U.S.-China relations, saying "We are working toward having a very comprehensive and hopefully good relationship with China in many areas."

She added: "For me it was important to express how I felt and to do so as clearly as I could."

Clinton might not know how long the White House will be her home, but in the tent village of international women activists in Huairou on the outskirts of Beijing the welcome mat was out for her.

For days activists had sought a champion to defend them from overzealous Chinese security and present the views of the modern woman.

Ironically, Beijing was keen for Clinton to attend the U.N. meeting, believing it would help guarantee the success of the largest U.N. gathering in history.

Partly to facilitate her trip, Beijing quietly released Chinese-American human rights campaigner Harry Wu from jail last month and expelled him to the United States.

Then Clinton turned the human rights spotlight squarely on Beijing again.

Her attack on China's Communist government for denying visas to delegates to the grassroots forum in Huairou strays close to two areas over which Beijing is particularly sensitive -- Tibet and Taiwan.

Women activists at the forum have been indignant that scores of Tibetan women exiles and a number of delegates from Taiwan were refused permission to attend.

China regards independence agitation in Taiwan and Tibet as two of its most dangerous internal threats and is enraged at any foreign interference in these issues.

"I think in the way she covered the issues of human rights, she really covered all the issues of significance to Tibetans," said Tenki Davis, one of nine Tibetan women exiles attending the Huairou meeting.

"It was as good as I could have imagined. I was very encouraged."

Although the conference is committed to making women's rights a human rights issue, Clinton went further by addressing all the key issues on which Beijing, in particular, stands condemned by a number of Western governments as well as human rights activists.

Binaifar Nowrojee, a Kenyan lawyer concerned with women's issues at U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, added, "It will have a significant influence on the U.S. delegation. (And) other governments look to the United States for direction."

Clinton addresses the activists Wednesday and her presence at the mud-trampled site about one hour's drive north of Beijing is expected to be the event of the conference.

Extra security will be on hand for her visit but on this occasion no one is complaining.