It was a brief meeting, but with great effect: Heiko Maas shook hands with Joshua Wong, exchanged pleasantries with the young man in the privately operated roof garden restaurant of the Bundestag and on the terrace in front of the Reichstag dome. The German foreign minister and the activist from Hong Kong: The picture unfolded from Monday night only really his foreign policy force.
Hardly recently has a 22-year-old activist triggered such a stir in relations between Berlin and Beijing.
The communist leadership in Beijing spoke of an "act of disrespect" and ordered the German ambassador to China in the local Foreign Ministry. In Berlin, Chinese Ambassador Wu Ken gave a press conference to selected journalists. China's leadership opened what was medially possible, as the impression of many observers in Berlin. And that's because of some photos.
Also in the Bundestag Wong was an issue - in a debate that was actually devoted to the budget. FDP leader Christian Lindner, who had recently been treated brusquely by fellow party members during a visit to the People's Republic of Communist Party representatives, regretted in the debate over the debate that Chancellor Wong had not personally received. Lindner himself capitalized on the visit of the activist: He received Wong and other activists in his office in the Bundestag and then tweeted himself a photo of it.
Just met with @GydeJ in #Bundestag Hong Kong activist @joshuawongcf. #Merkel should also have taken the opportunity to send out signs that Germany supports democracy, human rights and the principle of "one country, two systems". CL # HongKongProtest pic.twitter.com/saUBBPyPpb
- Christian Lindner (@c_lindner) September 10, 2019Angela Merkel, who recently visited Beijing with a large German business delegation, responded in her speech in the Bundestag: The observance of human rights is indispensable for the Federal Republic. This also applies to the recent events in Hong Kong, "where we continue to believe that one country, two systems" is right.
Merkel had been criticized after her trip for pointing out too little the human rights situation.
The Chancellor has her own experiences with the sensitivities of the Chinese leadership in public speaking performances, she prefers the way of quiet diplomacy. In September 2007, Merkel had received the spiritual and religious leader of the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama, in the seat of government in Berlin - which no chancellor had done before her. Even before the reception, which had been declared a "private exchange of ideas," the German ambassador to Peking had been "asked" to the Foreign Ministry, as it was then called. Merkel stuck to her attitude, she decided "even who I receive".
However, a meeting with Wong, the government spokesman had made clear this week, Merkel had not planned. Instead, Maas sought contact - thus gaining a moment of maximum attention.
The SPD politician himself on Thursday defended his meeting with Wong that he would continue to meet human rights lawyers and activists.
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas talks to Joshua Wong
Surprisingly, however, the harsh statements from Beijing for the German government did not come. Maas had after SPIEGEL information on Monday night deliberately admitted to the provocation against China. Even before the arrival of Wong in Berlin, Beijing had clearly signaled to the Foreign Office that the activist's visit was not being welcomed, and that possible meetings with Berlin government officials were an affront to China. Maas knew that, too.
At the festival of the "Bild" newspaper in the roof garden restaurant of the Bundestag, Maas decided therefore for a middle ground. Instead of leaving the party like all other invited federal ministers just before the arrival of the guest from Hong Kong, Maas waited and had himself photographed with Wong, talking to him for about ten minutes.
CDU politician Hardt supports Maas - despite initial skepticism
The reactions from Beijing lead to a close alliance with Maas. The foreign policy spokesman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, Jürgen Hardt, told the SPIEGEL: "At first I was skeptical whether the move by Heiko Maas was right, after all, the German-Chinese relations have a special status - not only economically." But the Chinese overreaction show "that we obviously hit a sensitive nerve that does not fit into the image of a strong and sovereign China."
The way the Chinese ambassador in Germany Wong "publicly deformed, is unacceptable," said the CDU politician. Among other things, Ambassador Wu Ken had stated that Wong was part of a separatist movement. These raise demands that went far beyond the civil rights granted to the Hong Kong Chinese.
In Video: Interview with Joshua Wong "Only peaceful protest is not enough"
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Hardt said he does not share some Wongs. "I do not see that in Hong Kong German weapons are used against protesters," he contradicted the activist. Wong claimed, "The police have many weapons, clubs, rubber bullets, and water cannons, and I think the water cannons come from Germany, and Germany should stop supplying such weapons to Hong Kong." According to research by the "Bild" newspaper, the Hong Kong riot police is said to have received three water cannons from France at the end of 2018, the substructure of which came from Mercedes-Benz - despite the German arms embargo on China.
Also vehemently defended the CDU foreign policy Roderich Kiesewetter Maas' photo opportunity. He welcomed his meeting with Wong. "We must neither buckle before China nor give up our standards", otherwise Germany would lose the claim to use a "value and rule-based international order" credibly, he told the SPIEGEL.
Also the CDU human rights politician Michael Brand responded with sharp words on Beijing's criticism of Maas. "China does not yet tell us what our foreign minister is talking to in Berlin, and this imperial behavior must now be answered more decisively, not only by Germany, but by the EU," he told SPIEGEL. And: "We are not commanders of dictators in China."