Hong Kong’s first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, who died on Tuesday, has been lauded as “one of the greatest movers in China-US relations”, with a foundation established by Neil Bush, a former American president’s son, praising Tung’s “profound contributions” to deepening ties between the two nations.
The US consulate and former city leader Donald Tsang Yam-kuen also praised Tung’s work in strengthening ties between the United States and Hong Kong, paving the way for deeper business links and high-level dialogue in the early years following the 1997 handover.
In response to the South China Morning Post’s queries, the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations on Wednesday issued a statement extending sincere condolences over Tung’s death and commending his “decades of visionary leadership” in Sino-US relations.
The statement highlighted Tung’s warmth, graciousness, magnanimity, optimism, boundless energy and indefatigable spirit.
“Mr Tung will be sorely missed, but his deep and positive impact on the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship will long endure,” the statement read.
The US Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau noted that Tung “played a pivotal role in strengthening the relationship between the US and Hong Kong during a period of profound transition, both before and after the 1997 handover”.
“His contributions to that relationship leave a lasting legacy, and he will be remembered for his dedication to Hong Kong and its people,” it said in a statement.
Tsang, who served as chief secretary under Tung, said his predecessor drew on his deep network of contacts in American political and business circles to open new opportunities for bilateral trade and high-level official dialogue between Hong Kong and the US.
Tung, who cultivated notable relationships with several former American presidents, remains the first and only chief executive to meet a sitting US leader in Washington, and for many years served as a vital bridge connecting Beijing, Hong Kong and Washington.
Just two months after the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty, Tung visited the US and was received by then-president Bill Clinton. He later arranged Clinton’s visit to Hong Kong in 1998, still the only instance of a sitting US president visiting the city.
In 2001, Tung led another delegation to the US to meet then-president George W. Bush.
The connection between the two families stretches back to the seventies, when Tung’s father, shipping magnate Tung Chao-yung, formed a personal friendship with George H.W. Bush, then America’s de facto ambassador in Beijing.
At the time, the younger Tung actively lobbied American political and business leaders in support of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization.
The SCMP previously reported that Tung also worked behind the scenes to support Beijing’s successful bid to host the 2008 Olympics by encouraging the US to maintain a neutral stance.
Three years after leaving office in 2005, Tung founded the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), a Hong Kong-based non-profit organisation aimed at helping Beijing and Washington recognise and develop areas of common interest.
As a vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, between 2005 and 2023, he remained a prominent figure in exchanges between Beijing and Washington.
In 2012, when China’s leader Xi Jinping was still vice-president, Tung took part in events surrounding Xi’s visit to the US, including meetings with former senior American officials.
In 2015, he was invited to the White House state dinner during Xi’s state visit.
Tung’s deep relationship with the US began early in life. After graduating from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom in 1960, the 23-year-old moved to America to work for General Electric in Massachusetts.
In 1965, Tung joined the New York office of his family’s shipping business before returning to Hong Kong in 1969.
James Chau, president of the CUSEF, noted that those formative years in America laid the foundation for the wide networks Tung later developed across politics, business, academia, civil society and journalism on both sides of the Pacific.
More importantly, Chau said, they gave Tung a deep understanding of the country.
“He got married there, he started his family there, he had his first job there. In a sense, he went from being a young person to a young man in America. It was that place where he really transitioned into the person that he became,” he said.
Chau said Tung long believed that Hong Kong’s distinctive value lay in its close links with the US and other economies, and such a consequential relationship could not be sustained alone through formal diplomacy.
Under Tung’s leadership, Chau said the CUSEF brought together global figures including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, to engage with Chinese counterparts.
The foundation proposed measures later adopted by Beijing, including 10-year multiple-entry travel visas for Americans and the establishment of intellectual property courts, steps Chau described as having a profound impact on Sino-US relations.
“I do not know anybody who comes close to him, yesterday, today, or even tomorrow,” Chau said. “He was one of the greatest movers in China-US relations.”
Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, highlighted Tung’s contributions through “Track 2 diplomacy” – unofficial exchanges involving non-government figures from both sides – in improving Sino-US relations.
He said Beijing valued Tung’s extensive American and global connections and appointed him to the CPPCC leadership in part to strengthen people-to-people exchanges.
He added that the CUSEF consistently supported research and diplomatic dialogues intended to constructively influence US policy on China. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
