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File – This June 13, 2019, file photo, right with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left with foreign policy adviser Jan Hecker, North Macedonian Chancellor Zoranzaev in Berlin, Germany. The German Foreign Ministry said on Monday, September 6, 2021, the death of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new ambassador to China, Jan Hecker. (AP Photo / Markus Schreiber, File)
Berlin (AP) —Germany’s new ambassador to China, formerly senior adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, died at the age of 54, the German Foreign Ministry said Monday.
The ministry announced Jan Hecker’s “sudden death” in a short statement early Monday. No details were given about when and where Hecker died, nor was the cause of death identified.
Hecker, who became ambassador in August, married and had three children, according to his biography on the Foreign Ministry’s website.
According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he arrived in China on August 1st and presented his credentials on August 24th.
Hecker, a former Interior Ministry official and later a judge in the German Federal Administrative Court, began working at the Prime Minister’s residence in 2015 as the head of a unit that coordinates refugee policy. He became Merkel’s foreign policy adviser in 2017 — an influential post, but less well known.
“The death of Jan Hecker had a profound impact on me,” Merkel said in a statement.
“I mourn for many years of respected advisors with deep humanity and outstanding expertise,” said the Prime Minister. She added that she was “full of gratitude” for working with him for years and expressed her condolences to his family.
The German embassy in Beijing referred all comments to the Berlin Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the Berlin Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to an email asking for details.
Former Merkel adviser German ambassador to China dies at age 54 | WGN Radio 720
Source link Former Merkel adviser German ambassador to China dies at age 54 | WGN Radio 720
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