HONG KONG - Consulate General of the United States Hong Kong and Macao said Secretary of State John Kerry has selected Kurt Tong to be the new US consul general to the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Kurt Tong will succeed Clifford Hart in August, the US Consulate General said in a statement on Friday.

Tong's most recent position was principal deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the US Department of State, the most senior career diplomat handling economic affairs for the Department.

He has also served as the deputy chief of mission and Charge d'Affaires in Tokyo. Prior to his time in Japan, he was the US ambassador for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), managing all aspects of US participation in APEC, while concurrently serving as Economic Coordinator for the Department of State's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Tong has been a diplomat for the US State Department since 1990, including service as director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council from 2006 to 2008 and as economic minister-counselor in Seoul from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he was counselor for environment, science and health in Beijing and served as deputy treasury attache in Tokyo and as an economic officer in Manila.

Tong speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.