The United Nations needs to make sure there is an "effective combination" of human, civil and economic rights in a world where many rights are not respected, U.N. secretary-general-elect Antonio Guterres said on Monday during a visit to Beijing.

China's leadership has overseen a sweeping crackdown on activists since President Xi Jinping took power, including detaining or imprisoning dozens of rights lawyers in what the government says is the targeting of criminal acts.

While in China in July, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on China to respect civil society.