SINO-BRITISH negotiators yesterday concluded the eleventh round of talks on the 1994/95 electoral arrangements with the two sides apparently making no progress. A new round of negotiations - the last before the Chinese Foreign Minister, Qian Qichen, and the British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, meet in New York - will be held on September 26 and 27. The ministerial meeting is now tentatively set for October 1, China's National Day. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wu Jianmin said yesterday that the final date for the two foreign ministers' meeting would be announced in due course. He said he hoped the meeting would give an impetus to the talks on the electoral package and improve Sino-British relations. The big gap between yesterday's meeting and the next round of talks is because China's chief negotiator, Jiang Enzhu, will accompany Chinese Vice-President Rong Yiren on a trip to southern Europe from September 16 to 22. Sources conceded that the timetable was tight and the next round of talks would be crucial in preparation for the Qian-Hurd session. The two sides remained cautious at the prospect of an agreement with a source close to the British side saying that ''the signals are not looking great''. Privately, mainland officials also said Beijing had prepared psychologically for the breakdown of talks as the two sides were still sharply divided over ''matters concerning fundamental principle''. ''Now it appears that the two sides are well-prepared, at least psychologically, for a no-deal scenario,'' one official said. The British negotiating team leader, Sir Robin McLaren, will fly to Hong Kong this morning to brief the Governor, Chris Patten, on the latest state of play and discuss with him the way ahead. An informal session to brief Executive Councillors is planned for Saturday. Emerging from yesterday's three-hour meeting, Sir Robin said: ''We've engaged in substantive discussions. But there still is a gap between our two sides.'' Again, Sir Robin described the atmosphere of the meeting as ''courteous''. Asked if Britain would consider its position to achieve a breakthrough, Sir Robin said there would naturally be opportunity for that. The British side would review its stance before and after the next round, he said. The two foreign ministers would also review progress of the talks at the New York meeting. Despite little progress made, Sir Robin said they would not talk about setting a deadline at this stage. A Chinese source said the British side had never abandoned the Patten proposals, adding that revised proposals later tabled by Britain still carried major features of the original blueprint. China would certainly reject any proposals that were not in line with voting methods in the existing functional constituency elections, the source said. ''It is impossible for China to agree to giving a seat to civil servants through functional elections to sit on the Legislative Council,'' he said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Wu said China would continue to reject the proposals to introduce major changes to Hong Kong's civil service system. ''Our view is that the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law should be observed. We are opposed to any major changes to this,'' Mr Wu said. But Sir Robin reiterated that changes would not import politics into the civil service or affect the political neutrality of the civil service. Asked if the two sides might try to reach an agreement just for the 1994 district board elections first, Sir Robin said the talks were concerned with the 1994/ 1995 elections ''as a whole''. The possibility for decoupling the two subjects was raised by the Liberal Party at a meeting with Mr Patten held in Hong Kong yesterday. The party said an agreement on the District Board elections should be reached first.
