'Hong Kong's first spy' John Tsang, dies in Guangzhou, aged 91
John Tsang Chao-ko, a former Hong Kong police assistant superintendent before being expelled on suspicion of spying for China during the cold war, has died in Guangzhou, according to media reports.
John Tsang Chao-ko, a former Hong Kong police assistant superintendent before being expelled on suspicion of spying for China during the cold war, has died in Guangzhou, according to media reports.
Dubbed "Hong Kong's first spy", Tsang was the highest-ranking ethnic Chinese officer within the colonial Hong Kong police force until his deportation in 1961 following accusations of espionage.
Describing him as a "comrade", the state-run reported last week that Tsang died in Guangzhou on December 18 due to "illness". He was aged 91. The report did not specify the illness Tsang suffered.
Mystery still surrounds Tsang's alleged spying activities. His deportation took place without a trial in Hong Kong and the mainland has not confirmed or denied the spying allegations.
The Guangzhou newspaper said Tsang had been a professor at Jinan University in the Guangdong capital, and a member of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. It did not mention his past in Hong Kong.
On October 3, 1961, Tsang was arrested on a warrant under the Deportation of Aliens Ordinance by the Police Special Branch, a secret service unit. He was then an assistant superintendent and deputy commandant of the Police Training College.
After being detained for about two months, he was escorted to the Lo Wu border and deported. According to a memoir by a former special branch member, published in 1996, police had intercepted a suspicious looking mainland man on the Lo Wu border days before Tsang's arrest.
The man was found to be carrying a huge sum of money and a microfilm was found concealed in a bandage on his leg. After some torture and interrogation, the suspect named Tsang as his contact in Hong Kong, according to the memoir.
The government was initially tightlipped about the reasons for Tsang's detention but later alleged he was closely involved with a clandestine intelligence network in Hong Kong.
His arrest - which shocked the then colony - came only a few months after his return from England, where he had completed a one-year course at Cambridge University.
Tsang joined the police in 1948 as a sub-inspector, the grade below inspector and one that no longer exists.
Chinese-language newspapers and reported that a low profile memorial service and funeral was held at a Guangzhou memorial hall on Sunday. Media crews from outside the mainland were barred from the ceremony.
