Donald Tsang
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen GBM KBE (Chinese: 曾蔭權; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012.
The Honourable Sir Donald Tsang GBM KBE | |
|---|---|
曾蔭權 | |
Tsang in 2012 | |
| 2nd Chief Executive of Hong Kong | |
| In office 21 June 2005 – 30 June 2012 | |
| President | Hu Jintao |
| Premier | Wen Jiabao |
| Preceded by | Tung Chee-hwa |
| Succeeded by | Leung Chun-ying |
| Chief Secretary for Administration | |
| In office 1 May 2001 – 31 May 2005 | |
| Chief Executive | Tung Chee-hwa |
| Preceded by | Anson Chan |
| Succeeded by | Rafael Hui |
| Financial Secretary of Hong Kong | |
| In office 1 July 1997 – 30 April 2001 | |
| Chief Executive | Tung Chee-hwa |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Leung |
| In office 1 September 1995 – 30 June 1997 | |
| Governor | Chris Patten |
| Preceded by | Hamish Macleod |
| Secretary for the Treasury | |
| In office 7 May 1993 – 31 March 1995 | |
| Governor | Chris Patten |
| Preceded by | Yeung Kai-yin |
| Succeeded by | Kwong Ki-chi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Tsang Yam-kuen 7 October 1944 Hong Kong |
| Spouse |
Selina Pou Siu-mei (m. 1969) |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence(s) | 111 Mount Butler Road, Jardine's Lookout |
| Education | Wah Yan College |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (MPA) |
| Profession | Politician, Civil Servant |
| Origin | Namhoi, Kwangtung |
| Signature | |
| Donald Tsang Yam-kuen | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 曾蔭權 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 曾荫权 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cantonese Yale | Jāng Yam-kyùhn or Jàng Yam-kyùhn | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupying various positions in local administration, finance and trade before he was appointed Financial Secretary of Hong Kong in 1995, becoming the first ethnic Chinese to hold the position under British administration. He continued to serve in the Hong Kong SAR government after 1997 and gained his reputation internationally for his intervention in Hong Kong's stock market in defending the Hong Kong dollar's peg to the US dollar during the 1997 financial crisis.
Tsang became the Chief Secretary for Administration in 2001 and ran for the Chief Executive in 2005 after incumbent Tung Chee-hwa resigned. He served the remaining term of Tung and was re-elected in 2007. He served a full five-year term until he stepped down in 2012. In his seven years of term, he proposed two constitutional reform proposals in 2005 and 2010 and saw the second ones passed after he reached a compromise with the pro-democracy legislators, making it the first and only political reform proposals to be passed in the SAR history. He carried out a five-year policy blueprint and ten large-scale infrastructure projects during his term. His popularity began to decline after the introduction of the Political Appointments System which was marked by controversies and scandals.
In the last months of his term, Tsang was embroiled by various corruption allegations. He was subsequently charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption and was found guilty of one count of misconduct in public office in February 2017 and was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment, becoming the highest officeholder in Hong Kong history to be convicted and imprisoned. His name was later cleared when the Court of Final Appeal unanimously quashed his conviction and sentence in June 2019, on the ground that the trial judge had misdirected the jury.