Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong Pleads Guilty to Foreign Collusion Charge

Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a legal charge of colluding with foreign entities under the territory’s national security law. The 29-year-old campaigner formally acknowledged his guilt while sitting in the courtroom dock as the charge was read aloud, according to journalists from the Agence France-Presse news agency who were attending the trial inside the court.

Wong is currently serving a prison sentence of nearly five years following an earlier conviction for subversion. He had been scheduled to regain his freedom next year, but the new foreign collusion charge carries a potential maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The indictment accuses Wong of conspiring with fellow democracy campaigner Nathan Law and other individuals over a period from July to November 2020. According to the court records, the group was accused of appealing to foreign governments, institutions, organizations, or individuals to impose sanctions or undertake other hostile actions against Hong Kong or mainland China.

The court session was monitored by several Western diplomats who were present in the gallery. During the hearing, a member of the public gallery called out “hang in there!” to the defendant. Wong responded by smiling and nodding toward the gallery before entering his formal plea.

The charge follows Wong’s arrest in 2021, when law enforcement officers detained him alongside dozens of other political figures and activists. The mass detentions were connected to an unofficial primary vote held in mid-2020, which aimed to select pro-democracy candidates for an upcoming election to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council.

Wong first attained widespread public recognition as a teenager in 2012, when he spearheaded student demonstrations against the introduction of a national education curriculum in Hong Kong schools. In 2014, he emerged as a primary student leader during the Occupy Movement, in which protesters blocked major city streets for 79 days to demand direct elections for Hong Kong’s chief executive.

Following the passage of Beijing’s national security legislation on June 30, 2020, the political party Demosisto, which Wong had co-founded, was officially disbanded. His repeated attempts to secure international support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement drew sharp condemnation from Beijing, where officials labeled him an advocate for Hong Kong independence who had solicited foreign interference.

Critics of the government’s legal actions assert that Wong’s case demonstrates the extent to which authorities are willing to go to silence prominent political dissidents and dismantle the city’s opposition movement.

Background

Hong Kong’s national security law was enacted by Beijing on June 30, 2020, establishing criminal penalties for acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces. The legislation followed months of widespread pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019. Since its implementation, numerous political parties, civil society groups, and media organizations have disbanded, while scores of activists and opposition politicians have been arrested or prosecuted under its provisions.