False Positives: Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa is Really Gone!!

Following up Last weeks Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa is Gone!! post is word that it Tung has official resigned:

Tung Chee-hwa announced at a press conference that, "An hour ago, I tendered my resignation as Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Central Government."

Other comments: Bye-bye, Mr. Tung via Simon; NYT (no registration required) Hong Kong's Embattled Leader Steps Down, and Tung steps down in Hong Kong at International Herald Tribune.

While china's spies hunting down the source of the leak in Hong Kong (PLA probes Tung leak: As reports of the resignation began emerging last week, operatives from the People's Liberation Army, State Security Bureau and Public Security Bureau were sent to Hong Kong, senior sources said Tuesday., now speculation centers on the "Acting" Chief Executive "The Donald" and if he will be confirmed (again NYT's):

Under the Basic Law, Donald Tsang, the chief secretary and second-ranking official here, will become the acting chief executive for up to six months. The 800-member Electoral Committee, composed of prominent businesspeople, professionals and politicians, will meet within 120 days to select a new chief executive.

Mr. Tsang is widely expected to be chosen, as he has far more experience in the senior ranks of government than any potential rivals.

By stepping down this week, Mr. Tung makes sure that his successor can be elected by current committee members, most of whom are strongly loyal to Beijing. Their five-year terms run until July 13. A new committee must be elected after that by 160,000 of Hong Kong's 6.9 million people, with mainly business leaders, neighborhood politicians and professionals allowed to vote.

While the complex rules for choosing committee members make it certain that the next committee will also have a pro-Beijing majority, growing democratic sentiment among middle-class professionals makes it likely that the next committee would at least consider candidates who favor greater pluralism here.