Tung Chee-hwa, the shipping magnate who became Hong Kong’s first leader after its return to Chinese rule, has died aged 89, the Daily Mirror reported, carrying BBC copy.
He died on Tuesday night surrounded by family, local media reported. His office described him as “devoted to his country and its people,” adding: “His noble character and integrity will live on forever in our hearts.”
Tung took over from the last British Governor, Chris Patten, in July 1997, when Britain handed Hong Kong back to China after more than 150 years of colonial rule.
From shipping to Government House
Born in Shanghai in 1937, Tung took a mechanical engineering degree at Liverpool University and then worked at General Electric in the United States for close to a decade. He moved to Hong Kong in 1969 to join his father’s shipping conglomerate, Orient Overseas, and took it over in 1979.
His political career began only in 1992, when he was appointed to Patten’s executive council. Despite thin political experience he was widely believed to be Beijing’s pick for the post-handover leadership, and was seen as a loyalist — particularly after Chinese state banks helped rescue the family shipping business during a global slump in the mid-1980s.
That backing was signalled publicly. At a reception in the Great Hall of the People in January 1996, then-President Jiang Zemin crossed a crowded room to shake Tung’s hand, a gesture photographed widely and read at the time as Beijing settling the question of who would lead Hong Kong.
A tenure defined by crises
The Asian Financial Crisis struck shortly after he took office, sending property prices down sharply. His administration then faced successive public health emergencies: a bird flu outbreak running from 1997 to 2002, and the SARS epidemic of 2003.
His defining political test came in July 2003, during his second term, when around half a million people marched against a proposed national security law they feared would erode civil liberties. His administration withdrew the legislation. The scale of the protest contributed to his resignation in March 2005; declining health was cited at the time, though some maintain he was pressured by Beijing to step down.
Beijing eventually imposed a national security law on Hong Kong directly in 2020 — the measure Tung’s government had abandoned seventeen years earlier in the face of the streets. Authorities argue it is necessary for stability; critics have called it “the end of Hong Kong” and say it has produced a climate of fear.
Tung’s last public appearance was in July 2021, at an event marking the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. He underwent heart surgery some months later, according to reports. He is survived by his wife and three children.
Not reported
The report does not give a cause of death, say whether a state or official funeral is planned, or carry reaction from the current Hong Kong administration or from Beijing. No verified Sri Lankan newsroom other than the Daily Mirror had carried the death when this article was filed.
