China threatens Germany over foreign minister's meeting with activist

China formally summoned the German ambassador toBeijing on Wednesday and threatened negative consequences forbilateral relations after Foreign Minister Heiko Maas met with HongKong protest leader Joshua Wong earlier this week. The Chinese ambassador to Berlin, Wu Ken, said that Beijing had"voiced its deep dissatisfaction" with the "incident," referring tothe meeting between Maas and Wong.The German Foreign Ministry confirmed that the German ambassador hadbeen called in for a meeting at the Chinese Foreign Ministry.Wu said the Chinese government had asked that Wong be denied entry toGermany on multiple occasions. He added that the meeting would havenegative consequences for bilateral relations between China andGermany."I want to underline that Hong Kong belongs to China, and that HongKong's business is subject to China's domestic policies," Wu said. Joshua Wong, a leading activist in the pro-democracy movement in HongKong, on Wednesday attended a press conference in Berlin in which hecalled on the German government to publicly condemn police violenceand abuse of power during the ongoing demonstrations in thesemi-autonomous Chinese city.Wong said Germany should stop exporting police equipment to Hong Kongas long as the protests continue as it was being used againstprotesters. "Actions speak louder than words," Wong said.Wong also asked that the German government suspend trade talks withChina until human rights issues were put on the agenda. He said hethought sanctions should be considered.The protest leader said he had voiced his demands with German ForeignMinister Heiko Maas during their meeting on Monday."More and more facts are showing that some radicals are hiding theirtrue face and their maliciousness under the guise of wantingdemocracy and instead standing against the rule of law, againstsocietal order and against the principle of 'one state, twosystems'," the Chinese ambassador said.Wu further accused Wong of planning violent protests in Hong Kong.Wong is visiting Berlin at the invitation of the mass-circulationBild newspaper. He arrived in the German capital on Monday eveningand spoke with Maas - among other people - at an event organized byBild in a restaurant on the rooftop of Germany's parliament building.Bild was not given permission to attend ambassador Wu's pressconference in Berlin on Wednesday, and when asked, Wu said theconference room was full, although plenty of seats were vacant.Wong's visit to Germany had been delayed by a day after he wasdetained at Hong Kong's airport for allegedly breaching his bailconditions.The key figure in the Hong Kong anti-government protests was laterreleased after a court declared that his bail terms allowed forpre-planned travel and that his arrest was unfounded."Hong Kong is the new Berlin in a new Cold War," the protest leadersaid Wednesday.He also said the demonstrations would continue in the Asian financialhub, as the protesters were still fighting for basic rights and theirright to free and fair elections. Wong said this was Hong Kong'sconstitutional right, but that Beijing was not fulfilling itspromises.Wu accused German media of biased reporting on the Hong Kongprotests. During the press conference, the ambassador showed a videoin which police officers were being beaten up and injured duringchaotic protests.Wu said the actions of the protesters had long overstepped the lineof legitimacy, and accused Wong of being an organizer of violence. "He and his supporters aim to create discord in society, spread hateand violence, by casting the principle 'one state, two systems' in anegative light and defame Hong Kong's government and the police," Wusaid.He also used words such as hooligan, serious criminal and "almost aterrorist," when speaking of Wong. The ambassador said German politicians were missing key facts on thesituation in Hong Kong and accused them of wanting to make "politicalcapital.""We should be able to do more for bilateral cooperation, but what hashappened now, I have to say very clearly, this will have negativeconsequences for bilateral relations. And China must react," he said.