Donald Tsang

The Dishonorable Sir Donald Duck
File:Donald Tsang.jpg
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
In office March 12, 2005 – May 25, 2005 June 24, 2005 - present
Preceded by	Tung Chee-hwa Henry Tang
Succeeded by	Henry Tang incumbent
Personal details
Born	(1944-10-07) October 7, 1944 Hong Kong
Died	?-?-2007
Nationality	Chinese
Political party	Disney Party

Sir Donald Tsang Yam Kuen, GBM, KBE, JP,(Chinese: 曾蔭權; pinyin: Zēng Yīnquán, born October 7, 1944) has been the Chief Executive of Hong Kong since 2005. On June 16, 2005, he was declared winner as the only qualified candidate. He was appointed by the Central People's Government as the Chief Executive on June 21, 2005. Tsang has been a civil servant for over 30 years.

Sir Donald Tsang was the second Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong SAR. 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.

Sir Donald is married 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. Quite famous for his devotion, Tsang is a Latin-rite Catholic and goes to the Church every morning, though his political viewpoints are criticised by Joseph Cardinal Zen, the bishop of the local Catholic Diocese, at times.

Early life

Sir Donald was born in Hong Kong in October 7, 1944. His father was a police officer 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.

Civil service

He joined the civil service in January 1967, and he has held positions in many different government departments, ranging from finance and 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 Donald 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, he 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, he was appointed Financial Secretary, becoming the first Chinese person 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. 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 went through the roof. Public expenditure to GDP rose to as high as 23%, amongst the highest in 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.

Born	October 7 1944
Family	Spouse: Salina Pow Siu Mei, with two sons, Simon and Thomas
Education	1964	Completing matriculation in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
Working experience	1965-1967	Working as a 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	Sent by the government to study an MPA at Harvard, completed with 9As
	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
	1997	Received KBE
	2001	Chief Secretary for Administration
	2002	Received GBM
2005	Chief Executive of Hong Kong

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 Anson Chan resigned her post, citing personal reasons. Tung then appointed Tsang to become deputy leader and invited a civil service outsider, Antony Leung, to take up the post of Financial Secretary. Mr Leung was forced to resign soon after he became embroiled in a car tax scandal.

As Chief Secretary, Donald 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. Polls showed that Donald enjoyed the highest approval in Tung's administration.

Serving as acting chief executive

Main article: Tung Chee Hwa's resignation

According to Article 53 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. It was always clear that Beijing had already endorsed Tsang as the new Chief Executive and that he would be elected unopposed by the 800 members of the Election Committee on June 16 2005. However, a recent "interpretation" of the Basic Law by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has made it clear that Tsang will only serve out the remaining two years of Tung Chee Hwa's term, rather than the full five years originally mooted. In 2007, he will doubtless seek such a full five year term, but whether or not he is successful depends very much on his performance before then and whether he retains the favour of the central authorities.

Tsang formally styled himself Sir Donald Tsang KBE, but he has not used the title "Sir" since losing his British nationality after the handover.

On May 25, 2005, Tsang resigned as Chief Secretary for Administration because of his intention to run for the post of Chief Executive.(Press Release by the HKSAR Government) 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 Campaign

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 had decided to run in the election. He said, "I would like to share with you my vision for Hong Kong, and how I will put my philosophy into practice after I am 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. (Press Release by the HKSAR Government) 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. [1]

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 could not 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 ends 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 in opinion 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. [2]

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 is 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). Of This caused widespread criticisms from the pan-democracy camp and the general public. [3]

Political Reform

On November 30, he televised appeal for support on the electoral reform package, however still there were thousands (63,000 as reported by the police, 81,000 - 98,000 by HKU-POP research team, at least 250,000 by the organisers) who demonstrated against the reform package four days later. It seems that Tsang will not change the "anti-democracy" points in the reform package.

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.

Daniel Heung Scandal

It was discovered in August 2006 that, Daniel Heung, Donald's cousin and the chairperson of the Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education, was involved in a scandal which he turned a warehouse site into a residential plot in Shatin. Heung later resigned. Tsang was the District Officer of Sha Tin at the time. Tsang himself had once visited his cousin's house in the late 1980s, but the Chief Executive's Office denied any criticisms, stating that Tsang took no notice of the land lease issue when he visited. Heung was also awarded a Silver Bauhinia Star by Donald Tsang in 2005. [4]

Economic Policies

Henry Tang introduced the 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.

Environment

Tsang has been criticized for not doing enough to improve Hong Kong's environment. In recent years poor air quality has 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. Concerns over the pollution's effect on public health and the tourism industry are also rising. In November 2006 Tsang was the subject of ridicule after he cited the long life expectancy of Hong Kong residents, claiming this was evidence that Hong Kong was "the most environmentally friendly place for people, for executives, for Hong Kong people to live."

Trivia

• Tsang has been dubbed Bow-Tie Tsang (煲呔曾) because of his habit of wearing a bow tie. He is also called BT Tsang.
• Tsang has a fondness of keeping koi. A pool has been built in his new residence, into which he moved in January 2006.
• Recently, he has delivered his policy speech about Hong Kong and mentioned on the environmental and education issues would be the future focus in year 2006.

See also

• Politics of Hong Kong

External links

• Official Biography about Tsang
• Tsang's announcement on resignation (in Traditional Chinese)
• Government statement on Tsang's resignation
• Henry Tang's remark on Tsang's resignation
• BBC News: Profile: Donald Tsang