Tung Chee Hwa submitted to the State Council his resignation report as chief executive of the Hong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on March 10, 2005.

Tung Chee Hwa says in his report he had been thinking about leaving his post as chief executive of the HKSAR since the third quarter in 2004.

On one hand, Hong Kong's economy has shown a good momentum of revival and posed a relatively stable growth trend, with political and social situation becoming gradually stabilized, says the report.

"On the other hand, my health is obviously not as good as it used to be," he says.

"Being responsible for Hong Kong and the nation, after careful deliberation, I now officially submit to the central government my request for resignation from the post as the HKSAR chief executive," Tung says.

Tung sincerely requested that the central government would consider and approve his resignation, the report says..

At the beginning of the report, Tung said on March 8, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council transferred to him a notice of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) about the nomination of him as a candidate of the vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.

Editor: Olivia