Ambassador Nicholas Burns told the Wall Street Journal that Beijing was trying to scupper engagement between people from the two countries, intimidating Chinese participants in embassy events and fuelling anti-American fervour online.
China and the United States have tussled in recent years over a range of issues including trade, technology, human rights and Russia's war in Ukraine.
Relations stabilised somewhat after President Joe Biden met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in San Francisco last year, but tensions persist between the world's two largest economies.
"They say they're in favor of reconnecting our two populations, but they're taking dramatic steps to make it impossible," Burns told the paper in an interview.
But China on Wednesday denied the American envoy's claims.
"The relevant comments by Ambassador Burns are factually inaccurate and deviate from the important consensus reached by the two countries' heads of state at their meeting in San Francisco," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
"They do not conform to the right path of China and the United States getting along with each other, and are not helpful for the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations."
Burns said Chinese officials had pressured citizens not to attend 61 public events organised by the embassy since November, and tried to intimidate those who did, including with late-night interrogations at their homes.
In one case, he and other US diplomats said, a venue cited a power outage for abruptly cancelling an embassy concert, only to then host other events on the nights directly before and after.
"This is not just episodic. This is routine. This is nearly every public event," Burns said.
However, Mao said Beijing had "worked hard to push forward cultural exchanges between" people from the two countries and urged the American side to "meet China halfway" to promote ties.
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