‘Staunch patriot, close friend’: Beijing official hails Tung Chee-hwa’s legacy

Hong Kong’s first post-colonial leader, Tung Chee-hwa, has been lauded as a pioneer of “one country, two systems”, a staunch patriot and a close friend of the Chinese Communist Party who also contributed to US-China relations, according to a eulogy delivered by a senior Beijing official.In his remarks at Tung’s state funeral on Sunday, seen by the South China Morning Post, Shi Taifeng – a Politburo member and first vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body – hailed Tung’s role in supporting the government in quelling the 2019 social unrest and in safeguarding national security.