Michelle Obama, who is on a week-long trip to China with her daughters and mother, has sought to focus on "soft" issues since her arrival in Beijing Thursday night, playing table tennis with students and touring the Forbidden City with her Chinese counterpart, Peng Liyuan.
But she briefly trod political ground in her Saturday morning speech at Peking University's Stanford Centre, calling for greater freedoms while refraining from calling out China by name.
"As my husband has said, we respect the uniqueness of other cultures and societies," Obama told a crowd of about 200 students, most of whom were from the US.
"But when it comes to expressing yourself freely, and worshipping as you choose, and having open access to information - we believe those are universal rights that are the birthright of every person on this planet," she said.
"We believe that all people deserve the opportunity to fulfil their highest potential as I was able to do in the United States."
Obama's words echoed remarks made last December by US Vice President Joe Biden, who told a group of American business leaders in Beijing that China "will be stronger and more stable and more innovative if it respects universal human rights".
While Obama touched on the issue of rights, she devoted the bulk of her speech to encouraging American students to study abroad in China.
She touted the "100,000 Strong" initiative announced by President Obama during his 2009 visit to Beijing. The program aims to increase the number as well as the socioeconomic diversity of Americans studying in China.
