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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam cancels trip to Germany but sources say it is unrelated to granting of asylum to two riot fugitives
- Pro-independence activists Ray Wong and Alan Li, who face charges over the Mong Kok riot, have reportedly been granted refugee status in Germany
- Beijing urges Berlin to ‘respect the rule of law and judiciary of Hong Kong’
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Hong Kong’s leader has cancelled her planned trip to Germany in late June, although sources said it was not related to the growing controversy over the European nation granting asylum to two fugitives from the city who skipped bail in 2017 to avoid facing trial on rioting charges.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s office on Thursday would not confirm the cancellation, saying only that she would “take into account different factors in planning her duty visits”.
Sources linked her decision to the need to deal with the government’s extradition bill, which is at the centre of a major political row.
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Two sources said the decision was made weeks ago, while another source revealed that Germany had only learned about the cancellation days ago.
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Lam has yet to respond after it emerged this week that Germany had granted refugee protection to pro-independence activists Ray Wong Toi-yeung and Alan Li Tung-sing, who face criminal charges relating to the Mong Kok riot of 2016.
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