CHINESE Premier Mr Li Peng has blocked pressure from hardline communists for tougher retaliatory action against Britain over the Patten package, it emerged last night. A mainland source said the premier, often described as a hardliner, had ordered caution in going ahead with the plan to build a ''new kitchen'' for Hongkong after 1997. ''There has been strong sentiment among hardliners at the central leadership and some ministries under the State Council for an early takeover of Hongkong. But Li Peng resisted their pressure and called for a prudent approach in handling the Hongkong question,'' the source said. Mr Li also toned down a threat to use trade as a weapon to penalise British commercial interests made during his press conference last Wednesday. Meanwhile, some Hongkong Affairs Advisers adopted a noticeably milder attitude, as they ended two days of talks with mainland officials in Beijing yesterday. Mr Lo Tak-shing, a close adviser to Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office chief Mr Lu Ping and a leader of the pro-Beijing New Hongkong Alliance, claimed Beijing might have toned down its proposals to dispel worries over an early start of the Preparatory Committee for the Hongkong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Mr Lo said he was disappointed by the slow progress made in forming the working organ, stressing that there was a pressing need for Beijing to start early preparations for the 1997 hand-over. Sticking to his earlier proposal for the setting up of a ''takeover committee'', Mr Lo suggested the proposed working organ should employ about 100 full-time staff, and said 30 to 40 should be trained as potential senior civil servants for the future SARgovernment. Another adviser, Professor Lau Siu-kai, associate director of the Hongkong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese University, urged China to work with Britain on the setting-up of the ''new kitchen''. ''It should not be confrontational. On matters that are beneficial to Hongkong regarding people's livelihood and welfare, China should continue to co-operate with Britain,'' he said. ''The working group should take a low profile and minimise its political impact. Don't let political disputes spill over to non-political issues.'' Hongkong affairs advisers from the pro-China Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hongkong (DAB) have urged the Chinese Government to adopt a cautious attitude in preparing for the setting up of the working organ. Mr Cheng Kai-nam, secretary-general of the DAB, said the central Chinese leaders had made rational decisions on the setting up of the working organ. ''It can be shown by Premier Li Peng's public statement that the working organ would only be set up when it was necessary,'' he said. Mr Tsang Yok-sing, chairman of the DAB, said the advisers from his group had urged Beijing to conduct wide consultation in the Hongkong community before finalising the responsibilities and composition of the working organ. The chairman of the Business and Professional Federation, Mr Vincent Lo Hong-sui, proposed the working organ should not be too big; it should be a working group rather than a consultative organ.
