Hong Kong is the 'new Berlin in the new Cold War' says Joshua Wong

Hong Kong is the 'new Berlin in the new Cold War' says Joshua Wong
Copyright REUTERS
By Euronews
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Hong Kong's pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong attends a news conference in Berlin, Germany.

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Joshua Wong, one of the leaders of the pro-democracy "Umbrella" movement five years ago, addressed the press at a news conference in Berlin, calling Hong Kong "the new Berlin in the new Cold War".

Wong said Germany should care about what is happening in Hong Kong because of the island's "world financial centre" status, adding that Berlin should suspend trade negotiations with China as a show of support for Hong Kong.

He called Hong Kong "the new Berlin in the new Cold War" because its citizens see themselves as a frontier against the authoritarian rule of Beijing.

Wong praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel's show of concern for protests in Hong Kong during her visit to Beijing.

"We hope that in the future that the next time EU makes trade negotiations with Beijing, they highlight China's human rights violations," he said.

The pro-democracy activist added he hoped the German government would show support for Hong Kong's democratization and stop selling weapons to Hong Kong's police in light of the recent cases of police brutality during the protests.

He specified that Germany had sold riot weapons to police including water-cannons produced in Germany.

Ultimately, Wong hopes that the West "stands with Hong Kong and supports free elections in the island," adding that was the next step.

Wong will not meet with Merkel during his visit to Germany.

Wong will travel to Washington DC next week to try and convince Congress to pass the Hong Kong human rights and democracy a c— a bipartisan bill that would mandate an annual assessment of whether the city is sufficiently autonomous from mainland China to continue enjoying special US trade and economic benefits.

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