Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong’s first chief executive, dies at 89

Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong’s first chief executive who died on Tuesday at 89, kept a low profile in the final years of his life, making only a few public appearances but continuing to help bridge the China-US divide.

Tung spoke in his capacity as a vice-chairman of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a role he stepped down from in 2023.

The conference was held online for global and local audiences and themed on ties with the United States, asking: “Can unravelling relations be reversed?”

Tung was a long-time proponent and facilitator of Sino-US relations, with his views partly informed by the decade he spent in the country. He and Betty married in New York in 1961.

At the SCMP conference, Tung called for the US to cast aside its hostility and misconceptions about China so the two nations could come up with solutions to the challenges facing the world, including the Covid-19 pandemic.