BRITISH officials last night said they were sad and disappointed at a lack of progress in three days of talks in the Joint Liaison Group (JLG) in London this week.
The head of the British side, Hugh Davies, said as the 28th session ended: ''I do think that the Chinese do believe that they can bring pressure to bear on the British Government by holding up matters in the JLG.
''We really will have to do better if we are to complete our agenda in good time before 1997.
''None on the British side were surprised at the lack of progress in the current atmosphere of hostility over the Patten democracy proposal.'' That hostility came through clearly in the remarks of the Chinese team leader, Guo Fengmin, at the end of the session.
He accused Mr Patten of destroying any basis for co-operation under the Joint Declaration and said meetings of the JLG were, therefore, bound to be affected.
Although Britain had proposed that the JLG meet four times a year, no date or venue for another round was set when the meeting broke up last night.
''It was important that people should know the truth and China would not be acting responsibly if it created illusions about what was going on,'' he said.
