Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (born 7 October 1944 in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong, with family roots in Nanhai, Guangdong) was a Hong Kong civil servant and politician who served as the second and third Chief Executive of the SAR from 2005 to 2012. He attended Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, graduating in 1964; although accepted to study architecture at the University of Hong Kong, his family could not afford it, and his first job was as a salesman for Pfizer. He joined the government as an executive officer in 1967, became an administrative officer in 1971, and in the 1980s served as District Officer in Sha Tin and Deputy Director-General of Trade. In 1995 he became the first Chinese Financial Secretary, the last to hold the post under British rule, and continued as the SAR's first Financial Secretary after 1997. During the Asian financial crisis of 1998 he directed the government's market intervention, using about HK$118 billion of the Exchange Fund over ten trading days and ending the operation on 28 August 1998 to defend the linked exchange rate, an action widely described as 'beating the big crocodiles'. He succeeded Anson Chan as Chief Secretary for Administration in 2001. After Tung Chee-hwa resigned in March 2005, Tsang served as Acting Chief Executive and was returned unopposed in the by-election that June as the second Chief Executive. In March 2007 he defeated Alan Leong in the first contested Chief Executive election and served until 30 June 2012, a tenure that spanned the 2008 global financial crisis, the passage of the 2010 constitutional reform package and the introduction of the statutory minimum wage in 2011. He was the first Chief Executive not to seek another term. Having earned a Master of Public Administration at Harvard's Kennedy School in 1981, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1997 and received the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2002. After leaving office he was convicted of misconduct in public office in 2017, but in June 2019 the Court of Final Appeal quashed all of his convictions.
Donald Tsang was the first Chinese Financial Secretary and, during the 1998 Asian financial crisis, led the government's use of the Exchange Fund to defend the Hong Kong dollar and the financial system. As Chief Executive he steered the SAR through the global financial crisis, the 2010 constitutional reform and the introduction of the minimum wage. He was the first Chief Executive not to seek another term. His later corruption case sparked wider debate about accountability for senior officials.
Achievements
- 1995 · Became the first Chinese Financial Secretary
- 1998 · Executed the government's Exchange Fund market intervention during the Asian financial crisis
- 2005 · Became the second Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR