First Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa dies at age 89

Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's first leader has died at the age of 89. Tung's office says in an obituary that he was a man "with noble character who loved his country."

"When Hong Kong is well, the country is well. When the country is well, Hong Kong will be even better." That was one of Tung Chee-hwa's maxims.

But before Tung assumed the position of Hong Kong's first Chief Executive, he was the son of a shipping tycoon, Tung Chao-yung, who owned the Orient Overseas Container Line.

Born in Shanghai in 1937, Tung studied mechanical engineering at the University of Liverpool. In 1982, Tung's father died and he took over the family business. But Tung's shipping company was close to a financial collapse during the global slump in the mid-1980s, before Beijing rescued the family business. The company later expanded its business affairs on the mainland, while Tung remained a positive relationship with Beijing.

During a committee meeting at the Great Hall of the People in 1996, then-president Jiang Zemin walked across a crowded room to shake hands with Tung.

At the end of 1996, Tung entered the chief executive election race. Tung secured the leader seat with 320 votes, beating his two competitors: late Chief Justice, Yang Ti-liang, and businessman Peter Woo.

Late Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa says " I'm very confident about our future that we will do well. We will do well economically for our people will continue to do well. And politically we move forward as has been articulated by the Basic Law and we will be doing fine as we move forward the lifestyle we enjoy today will be preserved."

Tung vowed to tackle Hong Kong's expensive housing issue, but the city's economy was hard-hit by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and property prices plummeted by 70% during a five-year period.

Despite his rocky first tenure, Tung was re-elected as the city's top leader in 2002. He introduced the principal officials accountability system and turned principal officials into political appointees.

Tung's political career faced another challenge in 2003 when SARS, also known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, hit Hong Kong.

Also in 2003 -- Tung proposed the implementation of Article 23 under the Basic Law -- an attempt that faced intense public backlash. On July 1, 2003, about half a million of people took to the streets to protest against the bill. While the administration intended to push through the legislation, the bill was eventually dropped after Liberal Party's James Tien had resigned from the Executive Council.

Late Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa says "I've seen there is still some concern expressed in the community about article 23 and for that reason I think that we need to reexamine the whole issue."

However, the crisis deepened: Tung announced his resignation in March 2005, citing health reasons.

Two days after his resignation, Tung was elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The politician acted as a bridge between China and US and founded the China-United States Exchange Foundation. In 2015, President Xi Jinping travelled to the US for a state visit and Tung was part of the delegation.

During the 2019 social movement, Tung convened a press conference and said external foreign forces were directing the events.

In March 2021, Tung fell over at the Two Sessions meeting in Beijing. He was 84 years old.

Tung's last public appearance was in July 2021. His spokesperson says Tung underwent heart surgery in September that year.