HK leader set to quit: Reports
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Hong Kong's first leader since the former British colony was handed over to China eight years ago is expected to resign on Thursday.
After more than a week of fever-pitch rumors, Tung Chee-hwa is preparing to announce he would quit because of poor health two years before his term is up, local newspapers reported.
His office released a statement saying he would hold a news conference Thursday afternoon, although it did not elaborate.
The South China Morning Post, quoting senior government sources, said Tung will likely admit some of his policies hurt some people, but will also say that benefits are starting to be felt as the region's economy picks up.
Tung, a former billionaire shipping tycoon, was hand-picked by an 800-member committee in Beijing to take the reins of this territory of 6.8 million people in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula.
But Tung lost the confidence of residents in Hong Kong and leaders in Beijing over his handling of the territory during that time, in particular the financial meltdown in 1997, growing calls for democracy and the deadly SARS epidemic.
It is still not clear whether Tung is being pushed out by Beijing, but democracy activists have said the week of indecision Hong Kong has faced since rumors broke out show the lack of transparency in the city.
Last week the 67-year-old was appointed to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an elite advisory body that includes retired Chinese officials.
Tung's deputy, Donald Tsang, is widely thought to be a successor. He is a popular civil servant educated at Harvard who received a knighthood for his service during British colonial rule.
Hard times
During his rule Tung has struggled to deal with a number of recessions, and many residents thought he mishandled moves to introduce an anti-subversion bill, growing calls for democracy and SARS, which killed around 300 people in the city.
Protesters showed their unhappiness at Tung's style and policies by taking to the streets in massive demonstrations, unnerving leaders in Beijing.
Over the past two years, as many as half a million people have marked Hong Kong's national holidays by calling for Tung's resignation and demanding greater democracy.
While the protests forced the government to shelve controversial anti-subversion legislation, many saw Tung as merely a puppet for Beijing.
But displeasure with his leadership extended beyond Hong Kong, with leaders in Beijing giving the territory's leader a rare public rap on the knuckles last year.
On a visit to Hong Kong and neighboring Macau last December, Chinese President Hu Jintao said the city's officials must improve their abilities to govern.
"The officials must turn back and look over the past seven years and find out what has gone wrong," Hu said at the time.
Setback for democracy?
But commentators are afraid that installing a new leader might be a setback for democracy, with China exerting greater control over the city. (Full story)
Democrats are alarmed that Beijing "might return someone very objectionable, even more objectionable than Tung, and saddle them with such a person for at least five years, and postpone any real reform of the CE election procedure for at least five years," according to Michael Degolyer, Director of the HK Transition Project.
According to Hong Kong's Basic Law, a permanent successor must be chosen within six months.
But legal experts have argued that the law clearly says the next elected leader should get a new five-year term, rather than serve out the two-year remainder of Tung's term.
Beijing -- which favors the two-year option -- might have to provide a constitutional interpretation.
Although Tsang could step in as a temporary leader, it is uncertain how a permanent replacement would be decided, according to CNN's Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy.
Beijing has previously ruled out universal suffrage.
