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Britain has an enduring moral responsibility to ensure that Hong Kong is democratic, stable and prosperous, and diplomats should do more to uphold the treaty that governed the former territorys return to China 18 years ago, a Parliament committee says.

But a new report issued Friday by the British Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee stops short of saying what will, or can, be done.

The U.K. can and should take a clearer position on the overall pace and degree of democratic reform, the report says. The specific details of constitutional reform are for the governments of China and Hong Kong to decide together with the people of Hong Kong.

The report is the conclusion of the panels seven-month inquiry on the state of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the treaty under which Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 under a framework known as one country, two systems. That framework supposedly ensures the territory of 7 million a substantial degree of autonomy for 50 years from Communist rulers in Beijing.

Hong Kong is home to 250,000 British citizens and 3.4 million British (overseas) nationals, who have British passports but no right to work or reside permanently in Britain.

The committees inquiry, which began in July, happened to coincide with the most tumultuous period in Hong Kong since the treaty was signed in 1984 and registered with the United Nations. Chinese authorities sought to obstruct the committees work, even prohibiting its members from visiting Hong Kong during last years massive pro-democracy street protests.

In August, the standing committee of Chinas legislature, the National People's Congress, set a framework for future elections for Hong Kongs chief executive, in effect limiting the choice of candidates to two or three approved by a nominating committee expected to be composed largely of people regarded as pro-Beijing.

That framework touched off the unprecedented demonstrations that lasted 10 weeks and saw thousands of participants clogging major thoroughfares and surrounding government headquarters. The sit-ins ended in mid-December after police, acting on a court order, cleared the streets.

The British parliamentary committee reviewed testimony from nearly 700 people and civic groups in Hong Kong and concluded in its 70-page report that there are real concerns about Beijing eroding freedom of the press and of assembly in the territory.

Furthermore, the report says that Beijings election framework doesnt offer genuine choice in any meaningful sense of the phrase, nor do we consider [it] consistent with the principle that Hong Kong should enjoy a high degree of autonomy.

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Britain has enduring responsibility for democracy in Hong Kong, report says