:Chau Tak-hay

Chau was born in 1943 in Hong Kong. He was graduated from the St. Joseph's College, Hong Kong in 1961 and the University of Hong Kong in 1967 and joined the Hong Kong government on the same year.

During his early career, Chau was involved in the formulation of Hong Kong's foreign trade policies, establishing and negotiating the bilateral textiles arrangements between Hong Kong and importing countries under the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA), at the time when Hong Kong textiles industry was booming. In 1979, Chau was appointed as Hong Kong's permanent representative to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and served until 1984.{{cite web|title=Chau Tak Hay|work=Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce|url=http://www.chamber.org.hk/wsc/speakers/CHAUTAKHEI.pdf}}

After he returned to Hong Kong in 1984, he continued to serve in many positions, including Regional Secretary for Hong Kong and Kowloon in the City and New Territories Administration and Secretary for Health and Welfare from 1988 to 1989. In that capacity, he was also an official member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. In 1990, his position dropped as the Director-General of Trade, where he responded with "a step back after a year a boundless as the sea and sky".

After a year, he was re-promoted to Secretary for Trade and Industry from 1991 and 1995 and Secretary for Broadcasting, Culture and Sport from November 1995 to March 1998. In 1990, he famously commented on Singapore by noting that Singapore had "advantages" over Hong Kong's in implementing unpopular policies to tackle the economic downturn (such as wage cuts) because the People's Action Party has nearly complete control over parliament, the media, trade unions and the people. He further added: "Of course we are different from Singapore. The opposition parties in Singapore do not raise opposition. If they do raise opposition, the might be arrested...our legislative council has 60 opposition members." The Straits Times replied with a bitter editorial that denounced Chau's "misinformed and inaccurate comments."{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/eastmeetswest00bell_199/page/n241 230]|title=East Meets West: Human Rights and Democracy in East Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/eastmeetswest00bell_199|url-access=limited|first=Daniel A.|last=Bell|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2000}}

He was appointed again as Secretary for Trade and Industry in March 1998 in which the position was renamed Secretary for Commerce and Industry in July 2000. He retired from the government in 2002 after he was not invited to be principal official under the new Principal Officials Accountability System of the Tung Chee-hwa administration. Upon his retirement, he was awarded Gold Bauhinia Star (GBS).

After his retirement, he was appointed as Special Consultant to the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China regarding to World Trade Organization (WTO) matters since 2002. He has also held many company directorships, including the Wheelock and Company Ltd., SJM Holdings Limited, Tradelink Electronic Commerce Limited and China Life Insurance Co. Ltd.{{cite web|work=Bloomberg|title=Tak Hay Chau GBS|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=8214314&capId=12762294&previousCapId=155731&previousTitle=New%20World%20Development%20Company%20Limited}}

He married Ada Wong Ying-kay, a culture activist and former chairman of the Wan Chai District Council.

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{{s-bef|before =John Walter Chambers}}

{{s-ttl|title = Secretary for Health and Welfare |years = 1988–1989}}

{{s-aft|after=Elizabeth Wong}}

{{s-bef|before =John Chan}}

{{s-ttl|title = Secretary for Trade and Industry |years = 1990–1995}}

{{s-aft|after =Denise Yue}}

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{{s-ttl|title = Secretary for Broadcasting, Culture and Sport |years = 1996–1998}}

{{s-aft|after=Kwong Ki-chi|as=Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting}}

{{s-bef|before =Denise Yue}}

{{s-ttl|title = Secretary for Trade and Industry |years = 1998–2000}}

{{s-aft|after=Himself|as=Secretary for Commerce and Industry}}

{{s-bef|before =Himself|as=Secretary for Trade and Industry}}

{{s-ttl|title = Secretary for Commerce and Industry |years = 1998–2002}}

{{s-aft|after=Henry Tang|as=Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology}}

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Category:1943 births

Category:Living people

Category:Alumni of the University of Hong Kong

Category:Government officials of Hong Kong

Category:Hong Kong businesspeople

Category:Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star