Joshua Wong admits instigating sanctions against Beijing, Hong Kong governments

Jailed Hong Kong opposition activist Joshua Wong admitted to instigating sanctions against Beijing and Hong Kong governments six years ago. In a High Court hearing, Wong 29, conspired with fugitive ex-lawmaker Nathan Law, 33, and others to gather international support for their resistance campaign to force Beijing to repeal the national security law and grant Hongkongers more political freedom.

Wong pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in front of Mr Justice William Tam Yiu-ho, a former leading prosecutor who led anti-government protest prosecutions after the 2019 unrest. He faces additional years in prison, having been sentenced to four years and eight months for planning an unofficial legislative primary election in July 2020.

Wong and Law had plotted to seek foreign intervention in Hong Kong's affairs since 2016, starting with the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in 2016 and urging US lawmakers to pass the bill in September 2019. Between July 2019 and May 2020, Wong, Law, and Demosisto urged several Western countries to stop exporting weapons and crowd control equipment to Hong Kong's police force.

In May 2020, Wong claimed he helped pass two US laws restricting tear gas and covered munitions to the city's police. As the national security law was implemented on June 30, Wong, Law, and their associates pleaded with Western governments to include human rights clauses in their trade deals with Beijing. Demosisto disbanded just before the law took effect, and Law left Hong Kong shortly after.

Wong, in an August 2020 article, urged local and overseas companies to diversify their markets to avoid overdependence on China and still leverage their influence to demand more human rights and freedom protections. In September 2020, Wong urged companies to consider alternatives to Cellebrite, an Israeli forensic tech firm, after it agreed to stop providing phone-hacking technology to Hong Kong police.

The activist also wrote to Apple and Sony in July 2020, warning against business ties with Beijing. The conspiracy ended when Wong was remanded in custody on November 23, 2020, for his role in an unlawful assembly in 2019, carrying a maximum life imprisonment sentence under the national security law.