John Tsang

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John Tsang 曾俊華
John Tsang in 2005
Financial Secretary
Incumbent
Assumed office  1 July 2007
Preceded by	Henry Tang
Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology
In office 4 August 2003 – 24 January 2006
Preceded by	Henry Tang
Succeeded by	Joseph Wong
Born	1951

John Tsang Chun-wah (Traditional Chinese: 曾俊華; born 1951), JP, is the current Financial Secretary (FS) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. His responsibility is to assist the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in overseeing policy formulation and implementation in financial, monetary, economic, trade and employment matters. He exercises control over the Exchange Fund, with the assistance of the Monetary Authority. He is a member of the Executive Council.

He is in charge of the Government Budget. He is responsible under the Public Finance Ordinance for laying before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong each year the Government's estimates of revenue and expenditure. In his annual budget speech, he outlines the Government's vision and policies for sustainable economic development, and he presents budgetary proposals and moves the Appropriation Bill, which gives legal effect to the annual expenditure proposals contained in the Budget.^{[citation needed]}

Education

An old boy of La Salle College, John Tsang studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds a Master Degree in bilingual education from Boston State College and a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Career

Through his teens and twenties, Tsang lived in the United States. In November 1982 he returned to Hong Kong and joined the civil service, serving as Assistant District Officer for Shatin for two years.^[1] He went on to positions in the former Finance Branch, Monetary Affairs Branch and the former Trade Department. From January 1987 to September 1991, he was first Administrative Assistant to then Financial Secretary, Sir Piers Jacobs.

He was Assistant Director-General of Trade from September 1991 to January 1995; Private Secretary to the former Governor, Chris Patten, from March 1995 to June 1997. In July 1997, John Tsang was appointed Director-General of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. In 1999 he returned from London and assumed the office of Commissioner of Customs and Excise.

Tsang was Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands from 2002 to 2003 and took an active role in assisting Michael Suen in implementing housing policy of Hong Kong. Before the Principal Officials Accountability System was introduced in July 2002, Tsang was Secretary for Planning and Lands.

From August 2003 Tsang was Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology. In this role he was also Chair of the Sixth Ministerial Conference (MC6) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) held in Hong Kong from 13 to 18 December 2005. Tsang was Director of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong's Office from 2006 to June 2007.

As Financial Secretary, Tsang is necessarily a close working partner of the Chief Executive Donald Tsang (no relation). Before being the focal point of WTO protests, he was noted for his staunch defence of Donald Tsang on the Cyberport dispute in early 2005. His open letter to the public and his defence in a ^[2] to shield the controversial Cyberport agreement between the SAR government and the PCCW brought him much criticism.

Tsang came under fire from Hong Kong citizens that the 2009 Budget did not do enough to help the middle class or graduates seeking employment. He was also criticised for stating that to cut the salaries of himself (higher than that of the US president's salary) and other high government officials would have little effect on the weakening economy, ignoring the symbolism to the local population.

Legislative Council member Wong Yuk-man, member of the League of Social Democrats, disrupted the reading of the budget midway, saying it was useless, and make his point, attempted to snatch the document away from Tsang.^{[citation needed]}

Health Concern

Tsang was admitted to Queen Mary Hospital on 27 September 2009 after returning from the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit. He had an coronary artery blockage and went through an angioplasty operation. He recovered and discharged from hospital on 3 October 2009.^[3][4] He told the media the operation will not affect his work.^[5]

References

External links

• Mr John Tsang Chun-wah, JP, Financial Secretary - Official Biography
• Financial Secretary's Office
• Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau home page