Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, wrote an opinion piece in the Financial Times Tuesday urging the UK government to assume "moral responsibilities" for what happens in its former colony. On the same day the paper published an editorial on Hong Kong's current situation.

In July, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the UK's House of Commons announced its intention to probe into the current escalated tensions in Hong Kong. Now the British government is keeping a low profile on the controversies over Hong Kong's political reform, but the elite has become restless and can't help taking a "moral and political obligation" for this former colony.

It is predictable that the UK displays such a tendency. The confrontation of Hong Kong's radical opposition groups against the central government can also be viewed as an aftereffect of China's reclaiming  of Hong Kong in 1997.

An aftereffect can in no way play an important role in history. Now Patten is a politician of the past and therefore it is routine for him to make some comments. And it is natural that the British Parliament always chooses to speak out over Hong Kong's internal affairs.

The UK government has to be responsible for the actual interest relationship between its society and China which is now the second-largest economy in the world. Downing Street might have attempted to say something but it has so far refrained. UK Prime Minister David Cameron has to ponder the consequences of doing so.

Different parties have different values and interests over Hong Kong's political reform, making it difficult to score a breakthrough in communication. Under this circumstance, dominant influence needs to be respected, or the bottom line of order will be abolished.

Hong Kong's political reform plan is formulated in strict accordance with the Basic Law, which is quite clear to the UK and those in the US and other countries in the West who have studied the law.

The elite, including pan-democrats in Hong Kong understand this point as well. The pan-democratic camp causes disturbances because they think that their noncooperation will compel the central government to make more compromises due to the pressure imposed by the West. Now the country should tell them with concrete action that they are wrong.

The Western world can utilize pan-democrats to plunge Hong Kong society into disorder. But if these radicals intend to take advantage of the West to gain bargaining chips, it will not work.

Indeed, the UK has influence upon some groups of people in Hong Kong but its impact on the West Pacific has almost come down to zero.

It can do nothing but merely make some complaints over Hong Kong's affairs.