The State Council, or the Chinese central government, held  Tuesday a special meeting to appoint Donald Tsang, 60, as new Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

Premier Wen Jiabao signed the appointment decree at the plenary meeting. According to the Basic law of Hong Kong, Tsang should assume his CE office on June 21 and his term will expire by June 30, 2007.

Tsang resigned from the position as chief secretary of the HKSAR on May 25 to run for the CE by-election and won on June 16 supported by 714 members of the Election Committee.

Before that, the central government had approved Tung Chee-hwa's request for resignation as the HKSAR Chief Executive for health reasons on March 12, with Tsang then serving as acting CE in line with related regulations.

The plenum reviewed two reports, one on the final result of the CE by-election by HKSAR and the other one on how the candidates were selected by the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council.

"The fact that Mr. Tsang was nominated and supported by 714 members of the Election Committee and then won as the electee shows that he enjoys extensive recognition and support from various walks of life in Hong Kong," said Wen.

Wen said he believes Tsang and his government could lead the Hong Kong people to overcome all the difficulties they may come across in the future and thus reap greater achievements in promoting prosperity and stability in Hong Kong.

He praised Tsang, when formerly serving as financial and chief secretaries of Hong Kong SAR, as having contributed much to safeguarding the "one country, two systems" principle and the Basic Law and keeping the city's prosperity and stability.

"Mr. Tsang exhibits relatively strong capabilities in administrative management," he said, citing that Tsang is familiar with the situations in various circles of Hong Kong and government work since he has worked in the Hong Kong government for more than 30 years.

Wen said the by-election has embodied the principles of openness, fairness and justice since it's fully in line with both the Basic Law and Hong Kong's regulations on CE election.

Also present at the meeting were vice premiers of Huang Ju, Wu Yi, Zeng Peiyan and state councilors of Zhou Yongkang, Cao Gangchuan, Tang Jiaxuan, Hua Jianmin, Chen Zhili and other members of the plenum.

(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2005)