John Tsang

2017 Chief Executive bid

Tsang officially declared his Chief Executive candidacy on 19 January 2017. Tsang officially declared his candidacy on 19 January with a slogan of "Trust, Unity, Hope", after more than a month-long pending of his resignation by the central government which put his campaign in limbo. There were reports that central government officials had given "red light" to John Tsang running in the election and had allegedly asked John Tsang not to run for more than ten times, including rumours of him being offered the deputy governor post at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in return for not joining the race. Tsang refuted such claims, only saying that there were "friends" who supported him and some who did not. To contrast his archrival former Chief Secretary Carrie Lam who was perceived to follow Leung Chun-ying's hardline and divisive policies, Tsang described himself as a good listener who accepted different views, appealing to "all 7.35 million Hongkongers so that together we can make Hong Kong a better place." Tsang also launched his election Facebook page, which drew more than 100,000 likes in a day.

Tsang unveiled his 75-page election platform entitled "Convergence of Hearts, Proactive Enablement" on 6 February, with the promise of revisiting the possibility of the Article 23 national security legislation with the possibility of relaunching political reform without mentioning the "831 framework". Other policies included introducing a progressive profit tax, developing New Territories North and East Lantau and abolishing all Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) and Basic Competency Assessment (BCA) tests, among others.

Amid the alleged pressure from the Liaison Office which actively lobbied for Carrie Lam and speculations that he was not Beijing's favoured candidate, Tsang struggled to seek nominations from the pro-Beijing electors and had to heavily rely on the Democrats. He received a few pro-Beijing electors' support, including Liberal Party honorary chairman James Tien who was the most outspoken supporter of Tsang since the early stage of the campaign, as well as the party's honorary chairwoman Selina Chow and leader Felix Chung. He also received a nomination from Thomas Wu, son of real estate tycoon Gordon Wu of the Hopewell Holdings, the only tycoon to nominate Tsang. 123 of his total number of 160 nominations came from pro-democracy camp, of which majority of them were from the professional sector, including the Democratic Party which made it the first time a pro-democratic party to nominate an establishment candidate. On 25 February, he became the first candidate to submit his nominations. He was criticised by pro-Beijing media and politicians for taking pro-democrats' support, Tam Yiu-chung said that Tsang now clearly represented the pan-democrats while Ta Kung Pao editorials attacked Tsang for "making deal with the devils".

Tsang performed well in the election debates. In a two-hour televised debate co-organised by seven electronic media outlets on 14 March, Tsang quoted Lam's nickname "CY 2.0", which meant the second version of the divisive incumbent Leung Chun-ying, saying that people fear society will suffer "split 2.0" if Lam wins. Former candidate Regina Ip and political scientist Ma Ngok said that Tsang won the debate. According to a poll conducted by the University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Programme (HKUPOP) after a forum co-organised by a group of Election Committee members on 19 March 62 per cent out of the 717 respondents said they would vote for Tsang if eligible, against 24 per cent for Lam and seven per cent for Woo.

Tsang's campaign rally on 24 March in Edinburgh Place, Central was attended by around 3,500 supporters. Ahead of 26 March election, Tsang held a rally on 24 March evening in Edinburgh Place, Central, the final stop on his half-day bus parade on Hong Kong Island. Around 3,500 showed support at the rally, with some 449,000 people watched the rally on his Facebook page and more than 18,700 comments were left on the page. Film director Johnnie To, Tsang's wife Lynn and his former political assistant Julian Law Wing-chung were among the six guests who spoke at the rally. In Tsang's speech, he said: "We are here to show our love for this city of ours ... I hope the Election Committee members, who have the power to vote, would heed our call and heal the rift, and make Hong Kong the home we imagined it should be." He also made a reference to the 2014 Occupy protests, saying: "Here we stand near Lung Wo Road and Connaught Road, Occupy happened near this place in more than two years ago, but I hope our rally today can give a new meaning to this place. I hope you will remembered that on 24 March 2017, we gathered here for the unity of Hong Kong."

On 26 March, Tsang received 365 votes in the 1,194-member Election Committee, losing to Carrie Lam who received 777 votes. His votes came from 98 percent of the 325-member "Democrats 300+" coalition, who voted as masse for the candidate leading in opinion polls, as well as a few pro-Beijing electors. Tsang fought back tears as he implored supporters to carry on the dream for democracy and not to give up on Hong Kong in his concession speech. "I believe this dream to turn Hong Kong more democratic ... has made every Hongkonger willing to dream on – till our dream comes true one day."

Post-election life In late October 2017, Tsang again gained media attention when it was reported that a RTHK 10-episode show titled Hong Kong Stories in which Tsang was a voluntary guest host would be suspended from airing as he had failed to declare this employment after leaving the government. Chief Executive Carrie Lam urged Tsang to "respect the system" like other officials to declare his employment accordingly. Tsang revealed that he had been in touch with permanent secretary Jessie Ting Yip Yin-mei at Chief Executive Carrie Lam's office as early as mid-September regarding the television series and provided information as requested.

In March 2018, John Tsang announced plans to establish a fund to help young entrepreneurs in Hong Kong. He wants to match his experienced and knowledgeable network of contact with aspiring entrepreneurs. He also joined a fintech-focused merchant bank Ion Pacific as its vice-chairman and Benefit Vantage Limited (BVL) as a chairman and investor in June 2018. BVL's main focus is cybersecurity and they are currently taking their authentication solution IPification to the market.

In 2020, Tsang co-founded middle-of-the-road political group "Hope for Hong Kong", signaling his change of political stance from pro-Beijing to centrism. He also appeared in "In Geek We Trust", a drama of ViuTV in 2022.

Personal life Tsang is married to Lynn Tsang (曾黃蓮華; née Wong) who he met as a nurse while doing volunteer work in the United States in 1975. The couple have a son Terence Tiu-lung (雕龍; literally "carving of dragons") and a daughter Prudence Man-sum (文心; literally "literary mind"); the combination of the siblings' names alludes to The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, a Chinese classic on literary aesthetics. The family remained a low profile despite Tsang's senior political position.

Tsang is a practicing Roman Catholic and a martial arts and fencing enthusiast. He learned Hung Kuen with martial arts master Kwong Tit-fu during his life in the United States and got to know Tai Chi master Bow-sim Mark and her son Donnie Yen. He has been voluntarily coaching the fencing team of his alma mater La Salle College since 1985, Sammy Leung was among his students. He also cameoed as a fencing coach in a government's tourism promotion video. He is also nicknamed "Mr Potato Chips" and "Uncle Pringles" for a moustache similar to one worn by a character on a potato crisp brand's packaging. He has a pet dog Shiba Inu named Oliver, in which he gave to his daughter as a Christmas present in 2008. Oliver is often featured in Tsang's greeting cards.

In 2009, Tsang suffered a health scare on his return from a G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. On 27 September he was admitted to Queen Mary Hospital with a coronary artery blockage and underwent an angioplasty operation. He recovered and was discharged from hospital on 3 October, assuring the media that the operation would not affect his work.