TABLE A B RITISH human rights delegation led by Lord Howe, formerly

Sir Geoffrey Howe, is going to China next month, No. 10 Downing Street

announced yesterday.

The visit from December 1 to 8 was disclosed as senior Chinese

Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji arrived at No. 10 for talks with Mr Major.

The delegation is a follow-up to the emphasis Mr Major placed on the

human rights issue when he was in China and Hong Kong in September last

year.

Lord Howe and his team will want to find out whether progress has been

made in releasing any of the alleged political prisoners.

Meanwhile, human rights was high on the agenda for Mr Zhu's talks with

Mr Major. However, Hong Kong was the principal issue, with the colony's

Governor Chris Patten also in London, although not taking part.

During the talks, Mr Major emphasised the Government's strong support

for Mr Patten and his proposals for greater democracy in the colony.

There was no change in policy towards Hong Kong.

However, addressing a Press Gallery lunch at the Commons yesterday, Mr

Patten described his proposals as ''not revolutionary but

evolutionary'', and denied they contravened the spirit of the Joint

Declaration.

He appealed for a ''calm'' debate on his proposals after Beijing,

furious over his plans, warned it might abandon its agreements with

Britain over the colony's 1997 handback to China.

Mr Patten said: ''I've put forward these proposals in good faith. So

if anyone -- Chinese officials, members of the local community -- have

better proposals to put forward, I think the whole community would

welcome that.''