First term of Donald Tsang as Chief Executive of Hong Kong


The First term of Donald Tsang as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, officially considered part of "The 2nd term Chief Executive of Hong Kong", relates to the period of governance of Hong Kong since the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong, between 25 June 2005 and 30 June 2007. Former civil-servant Donald Tsang was elected on 25 June 2005 to fill the position vacated by the resignation of his predecessor, Tung Chee Hwa.

Election

Donald Tsang who resigned from his Chief Secretary for Administration was the only candidate, he was declared elected unopposed on 16 June. Nonpartisan legislator Chim Pui-chung and Democratic Party chairman Lee Wing-tat failed to secure the minimum number of 100 nominations to enter the race. Before the election, controversies sparked as the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress interpreted Article 53 that the term of office of the new Chief Executive shall be the remainder of the previous Chief Executive but not the new term.

Cabinet

Ministry

Executive Council non-official members

The Executive Council was expanded with adding 8 new non-official members to the Executive Council, which balanced the ratio of composition to 14 official members and 15 non-official members.
MembersAffiliationPortfolioTook OfficeLeft OfficeRef
NonpartisanNon-official Convenor of the ExCo;
Chartered surveyor		1 July 1997Tsang II
NonpartisanFormer deputy judge of High Court1 July 2002Tsang II
DABLegislative Councillor1 July 2002Tsang II
FTUGeneral secretary of FTU1 July 2002Tsang II
LiberalLegislative Councillor22 September 2003Tsang II
NonpartisanNon-executive deputy chairman of HSBC19 October 2004Tsang II
AllianceBusinessman and politician26 October 2004Tsang II
NonpartisanChairman of HKEx1 November 2005Tsang II
NonpartisanFormer chairman of HKEx and director of Cheung Kong Holdings1 November 2005Tsang II
NonpartisanCEO of Bank of East Asia and Legislative Councillor1 November 2005Tsang II
NonpartisanFormer Chairman of Hospital Authority1 November 2005Tsang II
NonpartisanFormer Chairman of Airport Authority1 November 2005Tsang II
NonpartisanManaging director of CITIC Pacific1 November 2005Tsang II
NonpartisanCEO of Gold Peak Industries1 November 2005Tsang II
NonpartisanPresident of the Hong Kong Institute of Education1 November 2005Tsang II

First term

Food safety

After 80% of fish from mainland China was found to contain malachite green, forcing many fish stalls to close, fishermen and businessmen criticised the Tsang administration for acting too slowly. Subsequently, the approval rating of Tsang and his administration fell in polls.
Fearing H5N1 bird flu would come 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 30 August 2005, Tsang announced that the Guangdong Provincial Government invited all 60 members from the Legislative Council to visit Guangdong between 25 September to 26 September 2005. This was the first chance for most of the pro-democrats such as Martin Lee to visit the mainland China since 1989.
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. In June 2008, through praising Frederick Ma, the former Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, for his even-handedness with all political parties, pan-democratic politicians landed an indirect attack at Tsang's style. Tsang explained that he had been quoted out of context. He explained in the Legislative Council that what he meant was he would “stay close” to what was representative of mainstream public opinions, and “stay away” from what was against mainstream public opinions.

Political reform

On 30 November, he televised appeal for support on the electoral reform package. Opposing the package publicly, thousands of Hong Kong people demanding immediate universal suffrage demonstrated against the reform package four days later. It was clear that Tsang would not change the reform package which was supported by about 60% of the population.
On 21 December, 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. He angered democrats, who voted down his proposals, when he referred to them as "horrid animals".

Economic policies

introduced the Goods and Services Tax 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. The plan for the tax was shelved unexpectedly on 5 December 2006, prior to the end of the planned consultation period.
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. He said the term had never reflected the policies of the government accurately. He is of the view that “Big Market, Small Government” is a more accurate description of the way Hong Kong operates.

Environment

Tsang has been criticised 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.