Editor's note: This story was translated from the original VOA Mandarin article.
The United States is condemning a Hong Kong's court decision to sentence activist Joshua Wong to 10 more years in prison on Thursday on charges of "conspiring to collude with foreign forces."
In a statement on social media platform X, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday the U.S. "strongly condemns the Hong Kong Court’s decision to once again sentence Joshua Wong for exercising his freedom of speech. He has used peaceful means to defend the rights promised to all individuals in Hong Kong."
Rubio called "for his immediate release and that of all unjustly detained persons."
Wong had been serving a 56-month sentence for subversion and was due to be released in January. He had pleaded guilty in both the subversion and collusion cases, which were brought under the National Security Law (NSL) enacted in 2020.
The court alleged that between July and November 2020, Wong—along with fellow activist Nathan Law and others—"conspired to request foreign or external entities to impose sanctions, blockades, or engage in other hostile acts against China or the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region."
Following the sentence, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee described Wong, Law and others as "primary culprits responsible for undermining Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability."
In a separate joint statement, nine other countries joined the U.S. in calling for an “immediate end to all unjust prosecutions of individuals” charged under the NSL imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong.
“These are further examples of how the NSL is being used to target individuals for political expression and participation," the governments of the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK said in a statement on the sentencing of Wong and recent convictions of other pro-democracy leaders in the city.
The ten countries call for “an immediate end to all unjust prosecutions of individuals charged under the NSL and urge the authorities in China and Hong Kong to uphold their international commitments and honor the rights and freedoms guaranteed to the people of Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984).”
Young activist
Now 30, Joshua Wong began his activism when he was 14 and founded the student group Scholarism. He became a leading figure in the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests, for which he later served two short prison terms. He went on to serve as secretary-general of the political party Demosistō. After his release from jail in 2019, Wong joined the city’s massive pro-democracy protests.
During the months-long protests, Wong participated in efforts to seek international support for Hong Kong’s democracy and autonomy, meeting with Western officials and lawmakers including then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He also testified in a hearing on Capitol Hill.
Pelosi, a Democratic congresswoman from California, said in a statement on Thursday that “the United States and the international community must demand Joshua’s immediate and unconditional release.”
John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, issued a statement on Thursday condemning the sentence as “shameless”.
"Joshua Wong is a hero who dared to stand up to an authoritarian superpower,” said the Republican congressman from Michigan.
“An attempt to erase the voice of our entire generation”
Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Center for Asian Law at Georgetown University, told VOA that Beijing had long viewed Wong as a "thorn in its side," making the harsh penalty entirely predictable.
"From the time Joshua Wong began participating in social movements and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy cause, Beijing identified him as a primary driver of 'anti-China, chaos-inducing' activities in Hong Kong," said Lai.
Ho Leung-mau, a Hong Kong political commentator now based in Canada, noted the latest collusion-related sentence is meant to sever the ties between the city’s protest community and the outside world. He said that the move serves as a political deterrent to others while effectively ending Wong’s political career, ensuring he spends his entire youth behind bars.
"Because this is a political prosecution, the authorities had already set a target for how long they wanted to keep Joshua Wong imprisoned," Ho told VOA.
Frances Hui, a former member of Scholarism who now lives in the United States, also believes that the heavy sentence meted out against Wong is clearly an act of political retaliation.
"Joshua Wong represents a generation that believes Hong Kong’s future belongs to the Hong Kong people—he embodies the voices, ideas, and visions of the younger generation," she told VOA. "This sentencing is an attempt to erase the voice of our entire generation."
Nathan Law, who now lives in United Kingdom, reminded people in a X post on Thursday to support “my friend Joshua Wong."
“I wish I could see him as soon as possible,” Law wrote in the post.