Pro-democracy activist faces life sentence in second case under Beijing’s national security law.
Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong has pleaded guilty to a charge of foreign collusion in a second national security case that could see him jailed for life.
Wong, 29, entered the plea at Hong Kong’s High Court in the district of Admiralty on Wednesday.
He is accused of asking foreign countries to “impose sanctions or blockade, or engage in other hostile activities” against China and Hong Kong in 2020, after Beijing imposed a national security law on the autonomous territory.
The offence is punishable by a prison term of three to 10 years, or up to life imprisonment if it is deemed to be “of a grave nature”.
Wong is already serving a nearly five-year sentence for subversion and was due to be released next year.
Wong also co-founded Demosisto, a pro-democracy political party that launched in 2016. The party disbanded in 2020 on the same day the national security law was enacted.
Prosecutors said on Wednesday that Wong had written for newspapers and spoken to media outlets to call for international sanctions against China and Hong Kong after the security law took effect, and met with foreign politicians including former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
After the charges were read out to him, Wong stood up and told the judge loudly, “Confirm”. The judge said the sentence will be decided “as soon as possible” but did not specify a date.
Several Western diplomats attended the hearing.
Wong’s case comes after two other activists were found guilty of inciting subversion last month after they used the phrase “end one-party dictatorship” in their political activities.
Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, were part of a group known for organising annual vigils marking Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy protesters.