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The ministry did not disclose the circumstances of the diplomat’s death.
The 54-year-old began working in Beijing last month. His position will be assumed by his deputy, Frank Rueckert.
German Embassy in Beijing
“We have heard with deep sadness and horror about the sudden death of the German ambassador to China, Professor Dr. Jan Hecker,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Right now, our thoughts are with his family and those close to him.”
Janas Heckeris, Ursula von der Leyen
© Imago / Scanpix
Hecker, originally from the northern port city of Kiel, studied law, worked as a lawyer and judge. He was married and had three children.
A. Merkel and Jan Hecker
Before becoming ambassador, Hecker was a university professor and later became a foreign policy advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In 2015, when he joined Merkel’s Chancellery, Hecker took on a leadership role in the newly formed Refugee Policy Coordination Team.
During the so-called migration crisis of 2015, he was one of those who tried to explain Merkel’s plan to receive hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers based on the motto ‘we can do it’ (‘wir schaffen das’).
That role helped Hecker get closer to the Chancellor’s inner circle in the federal government.
In 2017, Mr. Hecker was appointed Head of the Department of Foreign, Security and Development Policy. It was then that he became Merkel’s trustee, accompanying the chancellor on many trips.
From 2011 to 2015, Mr. Hecker, by law, was a judge at the Federal Administrative Court of Germany. Previously, he worked for the country’s Interior Ministry.
“The death of Jan Hecker shocked me deeply,” Merkel said in a written statement issued Monday. – I am very saddened by the loss of a particularly valuable advisor who has worked for many years, with human qualities and excellent knowledge of the profession. I consider our cooperation a gift of fate and can only be glad that we had to be close comrades for so many years. I express my condolences to his wife, children and other loved ones for an immensely difficult hour of loss for all of them. “
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