Germany’s China Envoy Dies Less Than 2 Weeks After Appointment

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R), talks to then foreign policy advisor Jan Hecker (L), as she arrives to welcome the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev for a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin on June 13, 2019. AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File

Germany’s new ambassador to China, who was previously a senior adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, has died, less than two weeks after assuming his post, the German government said on Sept. 6.

Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the “sudden death” of Jan Hecker, 54, in a short statement in the early hours of Sept. 6. It didn’t give details of when or where Hecker died or his cause of death.