INFLUENTIAL regional cadres and economists have lobbied the Chinese Government against using ''indiscriminate'' fiats to restrain local growth. Sources in Beijing said the 10 investigation teams sent by Beijing to 20 provinces and centrally administered cities had encountered resistance in their attempts to re-impose ''macro-level control''. In a dispatch last night, the state-run China News Service quoted ''economic experts'' as warning that austerity measures must be designed and implemented ''bearing in mind local characteristics''. ''The speed [of the rectification measures] must be harmonious and the degree of severity must be adequate'', the agency reported, adding that there was no one policy that could fit all areas. The news service, which is noted for its liberal views, seemed to be putting in a word for the rich provinces. ''The rate of industrial growth in some prosperous areas along the coast is over 50 or 60 per cent,'' it said. ''Yet their products are selling well and they have high productivity. Do you call theirs an overheated economy?'' On the other hand, while some poor regions might have growth rates of less than 10 per cent, the fact that local factories had difficulty getting rid of their products might mean a curb needed to be put on their economies, it added. The news service quoted Executive Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji on the fact that the on-going campaign to ''boost macro-level adjustments and controls'' did not mean an '''across-the-board contraction''. It hinted that draconian measures as well as their indiscriminate application could have disastrous consequences. ''The lesson of the past few decades is that while excessive growth is not good for development, excessive cutbacks are equally detrimental'', the news service said. Chinese sources said the investigative teams that had been sent to the provinces last Thursday met ''passive resistance''. They said a number of cadres were merely going through the motions of obeying central edicts. The Chinese-run Hongkong daily newspaper Ta Kung Pao reported at the weekend that many regional officials had refused to acknowledge the necessity for an austerity programme. ''Quite a few provinces and cities do not think the phenomenon of overheatedness exists in their jurisdictions,'' the newspaper said. ''Some local leaders openly said, 'Our areas cannot be said to be overheated because we are way behind the other provinces'.'' Western diplomats said that while Mr Zhu and other masterminds of the austerity campaign had threatened to fire officers who put up resistance, only a few had been replaced. They added that central authorities were hampered by the fact that excessively harsh measures could both blunt the enthusiasm of reformist cadres and frighten away foreign investors.