Michael Sze Children: Who Are Michael Sze Children?

Michael Sze Cho-Cheung, GBS, CBE, ISO, JP, was a Hong Kong government officer from June 1945 until May 19, 2022. From 1991 to 1994, he was Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, and from 1994 to 1996, he was Secretary for the Civil Service.

He served as Executive Director of the Trade Development Council (DTC) from 1996 to 2004 and as Chairman of the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (ICAC) Operations Review Committee till 2014.

He was born on China’s mainland. He relocated to Hong Kong and attended La Salle College and Hong Kong University.

He joined the Hong Kong government and worked in the Home Affairs Department, Chief Secretariat, Trade Department, Marine Department, and Constitutional Affairs Department, among other places.

In the late 1970s, while a District Officer in Kowloon, he recommended compensating consumers who were inconvenienced by the building of the Mass Transit Railway along Nathan Road.

In 1991, he was named Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. During his tenure, he was in charge of advocating the last Governor Chris Patten constitutional reform plan.

Despite Beijing’s strong opposition to Patten’s constitutional reform plan, Sze backed it and was so chastised by Beijing officials. In 1994, he was named Secretary of the Civil Service. Contracts for expatriate public workers were automatically renewed at the time, which was viewed unfair to Chinese civil servants.

On the eve of the Handover, he abolished the system and executed the localization of the civil service. He served in Hong Kong’s Executive Council from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, just before the transfer, he announced his resignation from the civil service.