Everything about Donald Tsang totally explained
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-Kuen,
GBM, KBE, JP (|s=|p=Zēng Yìnquán}}, born
October 7,
1944) has been the
Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region since 2005.
Tsang has been dubbed
Bow-Tie Tsang (煲呔曾) due to his fondness of wearing a
bow tie. A civil servant since 1967, Tsang had occupied various positions in finance and trade in the
Hong Kong Civil Service, and was appointed
Financial Secretary of Hong Kong in 1995, becoming the first ethnic Chinese to hold the position in the British colonial administration. He continued in the position after the
transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong before being appointed
Chief Secretary for Administration after the resignation of
Anson Chan. Known for his flamboyant style, Tsang has won praise for his handling of the Hong Kong economy both as Chief Executive in the mid-2000s and as Financial Secretary in the late 1990s, but has been under pressure to push for democratic reforms.
On
25 March 2007, Tsang was re-elected as Chief Executive in a
contested small-circle election for the post for a second and final term, from 2007 to 2012.
Early life and family
Donald Tsang was born in Hong Kong on
October 7,
1944. His father was a police officer of the
Royal Hong Kong Police Force and Donald Tsang is the eldest of the five sons and one daughter. After completing his secondary education at
Wah Yan College, Hong Kong in
1964, he worked briefly as a salesman at
Pfizer Corporation before joining the civil service.
Tsang is married to Lady Selina Pow Siu Mei and has two sons. His younger brother,
Tsang Yam Pui, was the
Police Commissioner of Hong Kong until
December 2003, and had been a career police officer who worked his way through the ranks from probationary inspector. Tsang is a
Latin-rite Catholic and goes to the Church every morning, though his political viewpoints are criticised at times by
Joseph Cardinal Zen, the
cardinal bishop of
the local Catholic Diocese.
Civil service
Tsang joined the civil service in January
1967, and he's held positions in many different government departments, ranging from finance, trade to policies relating to the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the
People's Republic of China.
From
1981 to
1982 Tsang studied in the
United States, where he completed a
Master of Public Administration at the
Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University. He has also received honorary doctorates from the
Chinese University of Hong Kong, the
Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the
University of Hong Kong.
He was attached to the
Asian Development Bank in
Manila in
1977 for a year and worked on water supply and railway development projects in the
Philippines and
Bangladesh.
As Deputy Secretary of the General Duties Branch between
1985 and
1989, Tsang was responsible for the implementation of the
Sino-British Joint Declaration and the promotion of the "
British Nationality Selection Scheme". He served as Director-General of Trade between
1991 and
1993, and was responsible for all facets of trade negotiation and administration affecting Hong Kong. In May 1993, he was promoted to Secretary for the Treasury, where he was responsible for the overall allocation of resources, the taxation system and the cost effectiveness of the Hong Kong government.
In September
1995, Tsang was appointed
Financial Secretary, becoming the first
ethnic Chinese to hold the position. He was created a
Knight Commander in the Order of the British Empire in 1997 for his long-time service to Hong Kong, being knighted by
Prince Charles in Government House hours before the handover. Tsang was also awarded the
Grand Bauhinia Medal by the Hong Kong government in June
2002. During his term as Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, Hong Kong's public spending grew steadily as public revenue remained robust and government budget in surplus. Public expenditure to GDP rose to as high as 23%, though still the lowest among developed economies. He also approved a raise in civil servants' salary at the beginning of the Asian economic crisis. The salary raise was finally reversed, aligning civil servants' salary to 1997 levels.
During his six-year tenure, he steered Hong Kong through the
Asian financial crisis that swept across the region in
1997 and
1998. He worked with
Joseph Yam, chief executive of the
Hong Kong Monetary Authority and waged war on the speculators attacking the
Hong Kong currency peg.
On
May 1,
2001, former Chief Secretary for Administration
Anson Chan resigned her post, citing personal reasons. Tung then appointed Tsang to become the Chief Secretary and invited a civil service outsider,
Antony Leung, to take up the post of Financial Secretary.
As Chief Secretary, Tsang ranked second to the then
Chief Executive of Hong Kong Tung Chee Hwa, advising him on matters of policy and deputising for him during his absence. He was also a member of the Tung's inner cabinet, the
Executive Council, which is also the highest policy-making body in Hong Kong. He assumed the post of acting Chief Executive when Tung's resignation was approved by the
Central People's Government of the
People's Republic of China on
March 12,
2005.
Acting Chief Executive
» Main article: Tung Chee Hwa's resignation
According to of the
Basic Law, if the
Chief executive resigns, the Chief Secretary will assume the duty as acting Chief Executive for a maximum of six months. At 17:30 (HKT) on
March 10,
2005 in Hong Kong,
Tung Chee Hwa announced his resignation due to "health problems". The resignation was endorsed by the Central People's Government on
March 12, which also confirmed Tsang as Acting Chief Executive. Tsang then assumed power as head of the Hong Kong government. As Chief Secretary he served as acting
Chief Executive until
May 25,
2005, following
Tung Chee Hwa's resignation on
March 12,
2005. He resigned as Chief Secretary on the afternoon of
May 25, after the Chief Executive Election (Amendment) (Term of Office of the Chief Executive) Bill was passed at the
Legislative Council, and went on leave. Financial Secretary
Henry Tang took up as acting Chief Executive. His resignation was accepted by the
Central People's Government of the
People's Republic of China on
June 2,
2005.
It was always clear that Beijing had already endorsed Tsang as the new Chief Executive and that he'd be elected unopposed by the 800 members of the Election Committee on
June 16 2005. He was formally appointed by the
Central People's Government as the Chief Executive on
June 21,
2005. However, an interpretation of the Basic Law by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress made it clear that Tsang would only serve out the remaining two years of Tung Chee Hwa's term, rather than the full five years originally mooted. In 2007, he was re-elected for a full 5 year term.
| Working experience |
1965-1967 |
Salesman at Pfizer |
| 1967 |
Executive officer II |
| 1970 |
Administrative officer, Islands District Office |
| 1974 |
Finance Branch |
| 1977 |
Senior administrative officer, attached to Asian Development Bank |
| 1978 |
Civil Service Branch |
| 1981 |
Government sponsored MPA at Harvard, completed with 10As |
| 1982 |
District Officer, Sha Tin |
| 1984 |
Deputy Director-General of Trade |
| 1985 |
Deputy Secretary for General Duties |
| 1989 |
Director of Administration |
| 1991 |
Director-General of Trade and Chief Trade Negotiator |
| 1993 |
Secretary for the Treasury |
| 1995 |
Financial Secretary |
| 2001 |
Chief Secretary for Administration |
| 2005 |
Chief Executive of Hong Kong |
On
May 25,
2005, Tsang resigned as
Chief Secretary for Administration because of his intention to run for the post of Chief Executive.
Mr Michael Suen. the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, became Acting Chief Secretary for Administration as soon as Tsang's resignation was accepted by the Central People's Government.
Chief Executive Election
Tsang's resignation as Chief Secretary was accepted by the
Central People's Government of the
People's Republic of China on
June 2,
2005. He immediately established an Election Office, with Legislative Council (
LegCo) member and chairman of the
Bank of East Asia,
David Li Kwok-po, as his election campaign chairman. Tsang claimed that his agenda could be summed up as one of "Resolute, pragmatic action". He also mentioned that his philosophy of governance was the reason he'd decided to run in the election. He said, "I would like to share with you my vision for Hong Kong, and how I'll put my philosophy into practice after I'm elected."
Tsang instantly became the frontrunner in the race to succeed Tung, due to his long-time experience and high approval ratings. However, some commentators feared that his close association with the past British colonial administration would lead Beijing to distrust him. Tsang, however, won the support of a wide spectrum of society ranging from pro-democracy groups to business tycoons and this appeared to outweigh the misgivings of certain members of the communist hierarchy and their supporters within Hong Kong.
Accordingly, Tsang gained the support of the
Central People's Government and his campaign ran without a hitch. On June 15, he handed in his nomination form which bore the signatures of 674 of the approximately 800 members of
Election Committee. Later in the evening, the
Returning Officer, Madam Justice Carlye Chu Fun Ling vetted the nomination form and determined that his nomination as a candidate in the election was valid. As there were fewer than the required 100 members of the election committee remaining to nominate other candidates, Tsang was declared the only valid candidate in the election and became the new Chief Executive.
During the Chief Executive election campaign, Donald Tsang received about HK$27.33 million sponsorship for the campaign, about 20% of which came from the businessmen from the property sector, while
Tung Chee Hwa received only one third of this amount for the second Chief Executive Election. Although Donald Tsang stated publicly that each sponsor couldn't sponsor in excess of hundred-thousand Hong Kong dollars, some of the businessmen tried to sponsor him in different names, for example,
Stanley Ho from Shun Tak Group and
Lee Shau Kee from Henderson Land Development each sponsored HK$1 million under their family members' names. In the Chief Executive election campaign, Donald Tsang used only HK$4.12 million of the sponsorship, which was HK$2 million less than the amount used by
Tung Chee Hwa in his second Chief Executive Election. The remaining HK$23.21 million dollars would be donated to 14 charitable organizations.
On
June 21,
2005, he was officially appointed Chief Executive of the HKSAR by the State Council of the Central People's Government to complete the remainder of Tung's term, which ended on
June 30,
2007. Tsang has used
Government House, as his residence.
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
Food safety
After 80% of fish from the mainland China was found to have
Malachite green, forcing many fish stalls to close, fishermen and businessmen criticized the Tsang administration for acting too slowly. Subsequently, the approval rating of Tsang and his administration fell polls.
Fearing
H5N1 bird flu would came back to Hong Kong one day, Tsang announced that free fresh chicken sale would be replaced by a system of central slaughtering starting from
2009. A slaughter house will be built in
Sheung Shui.
Relations with pan-democrats
On
August 30,
2005, Tsang announced that the Guangdong Provincial Government invited all 60 members from the
Legislative Council to visit
Guangdong between
September 25 to
September 26,
2005. This was the first chance for most of the pro-democrats such as
Martin Lee to visit the mainland
China since
1989.
Recently, Tsang has talked of discriminatory treatment of political parties and politicians, describing their relationships with him as either intimate or distant. This is what is known as the policy of friend-or-foe dichotomy (親疏有別). This caused widespread criticisms from the
pro-democracy camp.
Political reform
On
November 30, he televised appeal for support on the electoral reform package. Opposing the package publicly, thousands of Hong Kong people demanding immediate universal suffrage(63,000 as reported by the police, 81,000 - 98,000 by HKU-POP research team, at least 250,000 by the organisers) demonstrated against the reform package four days later. It was clear that Tsang wouldn't change the reform package which was supported by about 60% of the population.
On
December 21, the Legislative vetoed his reform proposal as the government failed to get support from more than two third councillors. Some lawyers in Beijing said that if the problem can't be solved, Donald Tsang has the power to dissolve the
Legco under the
Basic Law.
Economic policies
Henry Tang introduced the
Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the public in early
2006. Despite public opposition and opposition from all pro-Beijing and pan-democracy parties, Tsang publicly supported the GST in September 2006.
Besides, Tsang announced that the Government no longer adopted the positive non-intervention policy in September 2006, further harming the relations between the
Liberal Party and the government. The plans for GST were eventually dropped later that year.
Environment
Tsang has been criticized for not doing enough to improve Hong Kong's environment. In recent years high air pollution levels have been an increasing concern for people in Hong Kong, with pollutants from factories and power stations in China's industrial hinterland mixing with the fumes of the region's growing fleet of vehicles and wafting into the city on prevailing winds.The city has fallen in the rankings in several quality of life indices and there are worries that foreign firms will relocate to cleaner cities such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Concerns over the pollution's effect on public health and the tourism industry are also rising. In mid-2006 Tsang launched the "Action Blue Sky" campaign and outlined a comprehensive plan to tackle air pollution in Hong Kong and in collaboration with the neighbouring Guangdong Province. Scepticism however remained among the expatriate and local population of Hong Kong and, in late November 2006, they ridiculed Tsang for citing the long life expectancy of Hong Kong residents as evidence of Hong Kong's high quality of life relative to other major cities in the East Asian region. .
Court case
Tsang has a fondness for keeping
koi, and pool for them was built in
Government House ostensibly at a cost of
HKD300,000 for the Koi pond in the yard alone.
Tsang was taken to the Small Claims Tribunal by political activist Matt Pearce on September 13th 2006. Pearce had "lent" his pet fish to the Chief Executive on July 19, 2006, however the pet died before Tsang returned it. Pearce had named his pet koi "Democracy". The case attracted wide interest amongst the media and the people of Hong Kong. Adjudicator Mr. Antony Chow Siu-wo ruled in favour of the Chief Executive and awarded him costs.
Further Information
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