Beijing lashes out at Berlin after German foreign minister meets with Hong Kong protest activist

Beijing has condemned a meeting between Germany’s foreign minister and a Hong Kong figurehead, and called on Berlin to stay out of its internal affairs. China claims ongoing protests have received foreign assistance.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas met protest leader Joshua Wong in Berlin on Monday, at an event hosted by German newspaper BILD.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China was “extremely dissatisfied and resolutely opposed” to Germany allowing Wong to visit the country and meet with Maas.

“China has already lodged stern representations with the German side,” Hua announced during a daily news briefing.

She added that no foreign government or organization has a right to interfere in the internal affairs of Hong Kong, stressing that any “any plots [that] rely on foreigners” are “doomed to failure.”

During the event, Wong told the audience that he was battling the “dictatorship of China.”

“If we are in a new Cold War, Hong Kong is the new Berlin,” the 22-year-old activist said.

Before departing for Germany, he was briefly detained by Hong Kong’s authorities who accused him of violating his bail conditions, after he was arrested in August and charged with organizing an unauthorized assembly.

Wong is one of Hong Kong’s most prominent activists. He was one of several protest leaders photographed meeting with a senior US diplomat in Hong Kong.The infamous meeting added weight to Beijing’s repeated accusations that Washington is providing direct and indirect support to Hong Kong protesters.

Thousands of protesters recently marched to the US consulate in Hong Kong, waving American flags and singing the country’s national anthem. The demonstrators demanded that US President Donald Trump intervene in the ongoing unrest.

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