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. “There is no indication that the death was related to Ambassador Hecker’s political function,” Andrea Sasse, the foreign ministry’s spokesperson, told reporters, declining to elaborate further. Hecker’s prior roles included serving as a former Interior Ministry official, a judge at Germany’s Federal Administrative Court, and the chancellery’s refugee policy coordinator. He had served as Merkel’s foreign policy adviser—an influential, but low profile, position—since 2017, prior to taking the ambassadorial role. Merkel said Hecker’s death “shocked me deeply.” “I am mourning …