Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, who starts his new job as Chief Secretary for Administration on Wednesday, revealed yesterday how he had once talked about retiring with his wife, Selina.
On his last working day as Financial Secretary, Mr Tsang said on Commercial Radio: 'When I was the Secretary for Treasury [in 1993], I had thought about it. There was a time when I said: 'How about I retire?' She said 'yes'. I am turning 57 very soon. I should have been able to retire at 55.
'The idea came to mind again when I became the Financial Secretary. Had it not been for Anson's resignation, it would probably have allowed me an opportunity to do so [retire].'
Yet Mr Tsang said he 'couldn't bear' to leave his post after going through the transfer of sovereignty and the Asian financial turmoil, and he knew that his colleagues had high expectations of him.
He praised his wife for her support over the years.
But when he was asked to publicly say some words of love to her on air, he replied: 'It's very difficult for me to utter it to my wife in this way. We are an old couple.'
