WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuter) - Human Rights Watch/Asia on Wednesday urged Vice President Al Gore to suspend plans to visit China this spring in light of what it called "the deteriorating human rights situation there."

"For the vice president to proceed with plans for a late March or April visit would send a signal that the Chinese authorities can step up arrests, impose harsh sentences for peaceful dissent, curtail civil liberties in Hong Kong and muzzle human rights criticism.... without fear of international criticism," the group said in a new report.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen is due to visit Washington next month and the dates of Gore's trip would likely be announced then, the group said.

Gore's visit would be seen as the precursor of a formal exchange of state visits between President Bill Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

The group said Gore's visit should be postponed until China made visible progress on human rights, including the release of "arbitrarily detained prisoners" such as bankers and business leaders, increased access to Tibet, access by humanitarian groups to Chinese prisons and access by international observers to political trials.

"A visit by Vice President Gore at this time will inevitably be interpreted by the Chinese government as another signal of U.S. indifference to its human rights practices," the report said.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher pressed China to make human rights improvements when he visited the country last November. China has instead stepped up arrests and trials, Human Rights Watch/Asia said, citing thousands of summary arrests and thousands of executions.

In addition, it said China was moving quickly to begin exerting control over Hong Kong, due to revert to Chinese control July 1.