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David Chan: a driven man

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When news first broke of David Chan Yuk-cheung's planned mission to sail to the Diaoyu Islands, the activist was simultaneously engulfed by praise and criticism.

Chan, 45, who died yesterday after diving into heavy seas surrounding the rocky outcrops, apparently wanted to beat Democrat Tsang Kin-shing's group as the first organised Hong Kong party to reach the islands.

While some pundits applauded Chan's bravery and patriotism, others slammed his widely-publicised voyage on behalf of his Alliance of Worldwide Chinese for the Protection of the Diaoyu Islands as a stunt aimed at scoring political points.

Tsang made a sadly prophetic statement: that those who questioned the motives of Diaoyu activists should think twice - because the trip to dismantle a lighthouse built by Japanese rightists on the disputed islands 'could be dangerous'.

Yesterday, as arrangements were made to return Chan's body to his family in Hong Kong, friends, colleagues and others who knew the former student leader during his turbulent career remembered him as a man who fought for the causes he believed in.

As someone who had championed the Diaoyu Islands cause since his student days, he would not, perhaps, have wanted to die in any other way. For he had shed blood over the islands before.

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