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Tycoon was a confidant of top mainland leaders

State leader Henry Fok Ying-tung died in Beijing last night. The property tycoon, who was  83, had fought a long battle with cancer.

Mr Fok, a vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, died at the  Peking Union Medical College Hospital at about 7pm.

His son, legislator Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, could not be reached  last night. It was not known whether he saw his father yesterday.

The tycoon had been ill for some time, having been diagnosed with cancer in 2003. Mainland media reported  in July  that he was critically ill and had been visited by Vice-President Zeng Qinghong . But his condition  then  improved.

Last night Otto Lin Chui-chau, one of his top aides and a former vice-president of the University of Science and Technology, described Mr Fok as 'a true patriot'.

'Many people made billions investing in China riding on the tide of its economic growth,' he said.

'Mr Fok placed himself at risk to help when he saw his motherland was in dire need.'

The businessman sent aid to the nascent People's Republic of China when it was under UN embargo during the Korean war.

CPPCC Standing Committee member Chan Wing-kee, ATV chief executive, praised Mr Fok for his enormous contribution to the mainland and his part in ensuring a smooth transition to Chinese rule for Hong Kong.

Mr Fok is one of the few Hong Kong politicians to have gained the respect of people across the political spectrum.

Former Democratic Party chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming, who sat with  Mr Fok on  the Basic Law Drafting Committee from 1985 to 1990, said although Mr Fok was a staunch supporter of Beijing, he never spoke out against the Democratic Party and its allies.

'Despite his enormous wealth, he would never use his money to influence people. He was a modest and self-effacing fellow,' he said.

Mr Lee  said he had fond memories of playing football against Mr Fok, a former president of the Hong Kong Football Association.

Born to a family of fishermen in 1923, Mr Fok was forced to abandon his studies at Queen's College in Causeway Bay while  a Form Three student when the Japanese army invaded Hong Kong in 1941. He struggled to make ends meet  as a labourer at the Kai Tak airport and  shovelling coal on ferries.

He became a successful businessman after the second world war, with his empire covering restaurants, real estate, hotels and oil. In 1983, he opened the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, the first five-star hotel on the mainland.

In recent years, the tycoon made big  investments in  port facilities and an information technology park in Nansha, Guangzhou.

He became a vice-chairman of the CPPCC in 1993.



Henry Fok dies after long battle with cancer