Open letter to the Chancellor: Merkel reacts to a request for help from Hong Kong activist

The Federal Government has accepted the request of Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong. Chancellor Angela Merkel has reached the open letter on the media, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert.

On the question of whether Chancellor Wong and other activists will meet in their upcoming visit to China, said Seibert, the travel program Merkels had not changed. The program does not see such a meeting. The Chancellor sets out on Thursday for her three-day trip to China.

In principle, the Federal Government advocates a solution in dialogue without violence, said Seibert. This dialogue must be based on Hong Kong's Basic Law, he said. The Basic Law grants people in the Special Administrative Region fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and assembly.

Wong asked for assistance in the letter published in the "Image": "We hope that you show the courage and determination against authoritarian injustice regimes that inspired Germany and Europe before the end of the Cold War and show Europe today."