Merkel Urges Beijing To Safeguard HK's Rights

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents should be protected, adding that a solution to the ongoing political crisis can only be garnered through dialogue while violence should be avoided.

Merkel met Premier Li Keqiang after arriving in Beijing in the morning and is scheduled to dine with President Xi Jinping in the evening.

"I indicated during the talks that the rights and freedoms agreed upon in Hong Kong's Basic Law should be safeguarded," Merkel said during a joint news briefing with Li.

Merkel added that political dialogue – not violence – is the path toward a resolution.

China was Germany's biggest single trading partner last year, with trade totalling 199 billion euros.

Merkel is in Beijing with a high-ranking German business delegation that includes executives in the auto, financial services and transport industries.

The economic ties make it harder for Merkel to satisfy a US diplomat and activists who have urged her to raise human rights issues such as China's treatment of ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as the three months of pro-democracy demonstrations that have roiled Hong Kong.

Hong Kong activists also warned Merkel about dealing with "authoritarian and unjust regimes" in an open letter published this week in Germany's Bild newspaper.

On the question of what Merkel might say about Hong Kong, a senior German official had said earlier the talks with Xi and Li will be conducted "comprehensively in terms of thematic breadth, and open and friendly in terms of tone – with a readiness to express criticism where we think things are worthy of criticism."

Merkel travels on Saturday to Wuhan, the capital of central Hubei province, where she will inaugurate the plant expansion at German auto supplier Webasto and speak at Wuhan University. (AP)