Donald Tsang Yam-kuen is now more or less officially a lame duck chief executive. He may be just midway through his second term, but Beijing has indicated it neither wants to sack him nor offer him its full backing.
At the beginning of the week Tsang donned his trademark fixed grin and warm clothing to make his way to Beijing to report on his activities. The grin stayed in place while Premier Wen Jiabao publicly chided him over the emergence of 'deep rooted conflicts' in Hong Kong and urged him to be more effective in tackling them. Then, as if to confirm just how out of his depth he is, Tsang told reporters that the premier was referring to economic matters, not the current row over constitutional reform.
The chief executive grasped at the comfort offered by some kinder remarks by President Hu Jintao but appears not to understand what's going on. The Chinese leadership simply cannot afford to ditch the second of Hong Kong's first two chief executives. They had no choice but to dispense with the services of Tung Chee-hwa but cannot contemplate the loss of face involved in admitting that his successor is also not up to the job.
Therefore, Tsang will stay but the central government has made it clear that he is there on sufferance and they are determined to ensure that his unpopularity is not allowed to reflect on their own standing; indeed they may even see some advantages in allowing the chief executive to dangle while the more assured leadership in Beijing keeps its distance.
This leaves Tsang in a truly excruciating position, but one he could alleviate by making the smallest effort to satisfy his domestic constituency rather than focus on his bosses in Beijing. The chief executive's standing in opinion polls has now reached the depths of his predecessor and, as criticism mounts, he retreats further away from any situation in which dialogue with critics is possible and reacts with a kind of sullen anger towards those who disagree with him.
Tsang's only real constituency consists of his fellow bureaucrats, from whose ranks he emerged. Instead of bringing new blood into government, he increasingly turns towards the bureaucratic cadre to fill posts which were supposed to be occupied by outsiders. Even within the upper levels of the bureaucracy there are some officials already looking anxiously towards the successor regime and wondering how they can distance themselves from the bad odour surrounding the current one.