Tung Chee-hwa’s tenure as Hong Kong’s first chief executive reflected “a deep belief in dialogue”, the China Institute of America has said during an awards ceremony honouring the former leader for his decades-long efforts to foster understanding between the world’s two superpowers.

The China Institute Centennial Award was presented at an event commemorating the non-profit institution’s 100th anniversary in New York on Thursday.

Tung, who served as Hong Kong’s first chief executive after the city returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, was honoured alongside the families of former US presidents Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush, as well as the Rockefeller family.

The 88-year-old was represented at the ceremony by his son, Andy Tung Lieh-cheung, who accepted the award on his behalf and praised his father for consistently working to forge cooperation between the two countries despite their fundamental differences.

He said his father spent his early professional life in the US and raised a young family there.

“It was through these experiences that he really learned to appreciate the United States,” Andy Tung said.

“He also truly believed that the relationship between China and the US is the most consequential relationship in the world today.”

He described his father as having “endlessly curious, always probing ideas” and a focus on long-term solutions to complex problems.