Etymonically

Xu Shen's Explanation of Words and Characters divides the ways of making Chinese characters into six kinds: indicator graphs, pictographs, form and voice compounds, etymonic compounds, graphically and etymonically related pairs, and phonetic loan characters.

Giving weight to 'remnants' emphasises the fragmentation of the British; the suggestion is that they have been removed from a larger whole; they remain (reading etymonically through the translation), and they remain at least potentially negative.