Hong Kong handover diplomat Lu Ping dies aged 88

Lu Ping, the feisty Chinese diplomat who led negotiations over the handover of Hong Kong and warned that the territory's last British governor would be "condemned through the ages", has died aged 88 in Beijing.

A steely official with a love for classical music and good English skills thanks to his education at the missionary-founded St John's University in Shanghai, he ran Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office from 1990 until just after China assumed control over the financial centre in 1997.

Lu used the Chinese insult against Lord Patten in a press conference in 1993 when the former British Conservative party minister was proposing democratic reforms that Beijing viewed as an attempt to pull the rug from under its feet.

On hearing of Lu's death, Lord Patten expressed regret that his dealings with the "intelligent public servant" had not been more cordial.

"I am sorry that Communist party policy made it impossible for me to have a closer and better relationship with him," said Lord Patten, who is now chancellor of the University of Oxford.

In East and West, his account of his time as governor, Lord Patten wrote that when talks with the Chinese government ran into difficulties, Lu "was given to mild hysteria and to the use of language from the most extreme lexicon of the cultural revolution".

But Lord Patten also wrote of his respect for his counterpart, describing him as "a distinguished-looking and highly intelligent man, a lover of classical music (I added to his collection of CDs) and a beautiful speaker of English".

Martin Lee, a veteran Hong Kong political activist and former legislator, said Lu's attacks on Lord Patten were not personally motivated but represented the Chinese government's opposition to his plans to give further autonomy to the people of Hong Kong.

Away from the public wars of words and despite their political differences, Mr Lee said he had a "good working relationship" with Lu.

Willy Lam, an adjunct professor of Chinese studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Lu was only ever executing orders from the standing committee of the Chinese Communist party's politburo, China's top decision-making body.

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CY Leung, Hong Kong chief executive, praised Lu's contribution to the territory.

"Director Lu dedicated himself to ensuring Hong Kong's smooth transition and return to the motherland," he said in a statement. "He worked relentlessly to maintain Hong Kong's prosperity and stability."

Jonathan Fenby, a China analyst who edited Hong Kong's South China Morning Post during the handover period, recalled an episode in which Lu helped defuse a dispute between the city's powerful businessmen and Beijing over the independence of the judiciary.

"He came to Hong Kong to have lunch with the tycoons, who were threatening to move to Singapore, then the Chinese changed tack within a week and it was clear than Lu Ping was placing his bets on the business community," he said.

In the years following the handover, Beijing was keen to avoid the appearance of interference in Hong Kong affairs, according to Professor Lam.

But, as mainland China grew in economic and political power and the democracy movement gathered momentum in Hong Kong, that attitude changed and the retired Lu became an outspoken critic in the Hong Kong media.

"These guys who advocate for Hong Kong independence are sheer morons," he wrote in a 2012 letter to the SCMP. "Deprived of support from the mainland, Hong Kong will be a dead city. Do they know where the water they are daily drinking comes from?"

Additional reporting by Julie Zhu in Hong Kong

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