Hong Kong ? Beijing’s favored candidate was selected for another term as Hong Kong’s leader, spawning calls for universal suffrage after the former British colony’s first contested leadership race since its return to Chinese rule.

Veteran civil servant Donald Tsang beat pro-democracy lawmaker Alan Leong 649-123 in the vote by an election committee loaded with tycoons and other elites, which has always picked the candidate with Beijing’s blessing.

Tsang promised during the campaign to produce a timetable for full democracy in Hong Kong, which has functioned as a semiautonomous Chinese territory since its British colonial era ended in 1997. It was the first time a post-handover leader has made such a specific pledge to deliver democratic reforms.

“I laid out a solid foundation for moving toward universal suffrage,” Tsang said in his victory speech.

Tsang declined to say whether he thought Hong Kong will have full democracy before the next leadership election in 2012.