BEIJING, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The United States should push for concrete improvements in China's human rights record before agreeing to a presidential summit, a New York-based human rights group said Wednesday.

Only hours before a key meeting to discuss a possible October summit between U.S. President Bill Clinton and his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin, Human Rights Watch-Asia warned "China's leaders have done nothing to ease their hard-line attitude toward peaceful dissent."

"A summit meeting in the United States would carry enormous prestige value and would be a major propaganda opportunity for Beijing," said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director of HRWA. "The Clinton administration should extend the "carrot" of a summit meeting only on the basis of concrete actions by China on human rights."

China's Foreign Minister Qian Qichen and U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher are scheduled to meet Wednesday in New York to discuss the much-publicized summit, despite acknowledgments from U.S. officials that "fundamental differences" remain between the two world powers on human rights, Taiwan and arms control.

"Chinese dissidents continue to be detained, arrested and tortured. Christopher and Qian must make human rights in China and Tibet an urgent priority when they meet in New York," HRWA said.

The human rights watchdog urged Washington to insist on the release of a large number of political, religious and labor activists from China's jails before agreeing to a summit. It also called for the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit China and Tibet and investigate allegations of abuse.

The proposed summit is primarily aimed at patching up Sino-U.S. relations which plunged to a 16-year low in June when Washington allowed the president of Taiwan to visit.

Human rights and arms control are the other outstanding issues, although Washington has in recent weeks toned down its allegations that China is providing nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan and Iran.

However, calls for action on China's treatment of dissidents have grown louder since the U.S. State Department criticized Beijing's human rights record as being in a state of regression and China subsequently detained U.S. activist Harry Wu for 10 weeks.

A number of prominent Chinese dissidents and their families have also been arrested or put under 24-hour surveillance since a security crackdown started before the sixth anniversary of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Squaremassacre.

Chinese sources say the tight controls were then extended to limit access to foreign delegates at the Fourth U.N. World Conference on Women in August and September.

But security has not been lifted since the conference ended Sept. 15.

At least six activists and five families of imprisoned dissidents remain under surveillance. Professor Ding Zilin and her husband, the parents of a student killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, are still indetention following their Aug. 18 arrest for "economic irregularities."

"In addition, there have been no moves by the Chinese government to release Gao Yu, Bao Tong, Chen Ziming and other (political) prisoners on medical grounds, despite their serious health problems," HRWA said.

"China's most prominent pro-democracy activist Wei Jingsheng, has not been seen or heard from since his detention in April 1994," it added.

China maintains its treatment of dissidents is an internal matter anddenies it has any political prisoners.