Incumbent Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen breezed through local elections to soundly defeat rival Alan Leong on March 25, and move into his second term as the special administrative region's top official.

Poll results revealed that 649 of the 772 valid ballots of the Hong Kong Election Committee were collected by Tsang, an overwhelming majority. His reappointment is expected to be officially approved by China's Central Government this April, after which his tenure will officially begin on July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2012.

The 63-year-old Tsang has been a civil servant in the Hong Kong local government for nearly four decades, and is renowned for his performance during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and later economic recovery during his tenure as the first Chinese financial secretary. It was after this that he was promoted to chief secretary for administration in 2001. When former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa resigned for health reasons in 2005, Tsang was sworn in as the acting chief executive and then successfully elected that June.

Born into an ordinary family, Tsang's career success is widely respected for his self-dependence and hard-work ethics. He was educated in Hong Kong and received his Master's degree in public administration at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China from British rule in 1997. Since then, regional prosperity has blossomed under the Central Government's policies of "one country, two systems" and "Hong Kong people administrating Hong Kong." A fully open mainland market and the endorsement of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) have offered Hong Kong more favorable trade conditions for further development. However, in recent years, it has been suffering from environmental problems caused by its dense population and heavy pollution, a lack of sustainable power to drive the economy, and a widening income gap between the rich and the poor.

Tsang, who has rich experience in administration and economic management, has vowed to enhance Hong Kong's economic development and democratic progress after his victory.

"We shall do our utmost to push economic development and establish Hong Kong as No.1 international financial center in the region. I can promise you that I will do this job well."

Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, outlining his second-term priority after winning the chief executive election

"The election result reflects the mainstream will of the people, that is, Hong Kong must develop forward in a stable manner."

Ma Lik, member of the Hong Kong Election Committee for the third chief executive

"We must not allow our justified loathing of the horrors and tragedies of the past to become a barrier to creating a better and more stable future for our children."

Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, pledging peace in North Ireland after his party agreed on March 26 to share power in the British province with the longtime feuding Catholic party of Sinn Fein

"The Israelis and Palestinians are taking the initial step on the path to peace."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, announcing on March 27 that Israeli and Palestinian leaders had agreed to biweekly meetings for discussions aimed at paving the way for a final settlement to the Middle East conflict

"Any form of independence for Kosovo is unacceptable for Serbia."

Serbian President Boris Tadic, countering UN chief mediator Martti Ahtisaari's March 26 recommendation of supervised independence for the ethnic-Albanian majority province in south Serbia, an idea immediately hailed by Kosovo's president

"Clearly, both the United States and China have enormous military capacity, but equally clearly neither country has the intent to go to war with the other. So absent of intent, I don't find threat."

General Peter Pace, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking to reporters during his China visit on March 22-25

"They saw an opportunity for worldwide visibility and through their success have changed the landscape of how a 'star' is defined."

Jamie Byrne, head of YouTube product marketing, saying winners of the world's largest video-sharing Website's 2007 Video Awards had helped to foster a new medium that is influencing how people are entertained and informed