Career
Through his teens and twenties, Tsang lived in the United States. In November 1982 he returned to Hong Kong after working with Boston Public School and joined the civil service, reportedly at the suggestion of Donald Tsang, with whom he became friends when they were at Harvard together. His first position was a two-year stint as Assistant District Officer for Shatin. He went on to positions in the former Finance Branch, Monetary Affairs Branch and the former Trade Department. From 1987 to 1992, he was first Administrative Assistant to then Financial Secretary, Sir Piers Jacobs.
He was Assistant Director-General of Trade from 1992 to 1995 and Private Secretary to the former Governor, Chris Patten, from March 1995 to June 1997. In July 1997, 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. Before the Principal Officials Accountability System was introduced in July 2002, Tsang was Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands from 2001 to 2002.
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. For his outstanding performance in the WTO, he even earned praise from Chinese president Hu Jintao.
Tsang then became the director of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong's Office, working directly for his friend Donald Tsang. He held the post from 2006 to June 2007.
In 2007 Tsang became Financial Secretary of Hong Kong.
Read more about this topic: John Tsang
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