Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong pleads guilty to colluding with foreign entities

Joshua Wong pleaded guilty in Hong Kong on Wednesday to colluding with foreign entities, exposing the prominent democracy activist to a possible life sentence under the city’s national security law.

Wong, 29, rose to international prominence as a teenage activist. He appeared at the High Court in Admiralty wearing a dark blue shirt and black-rimmed glasses, waving and nodding toward people in the courtroom before entering his plea before a government-approved national security judge.

He is already in prison after receiving an earlier national security conviction for conspiracy to commit subversion. That case involved his participation, along with other democratic activists, in an unofficial primary election held in 2020. His existing sentence is due to end next year.

A charge sheet seen earlier accused Wong of conspiring with exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, institutions, organizations or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades. The alleged activities targeting Hong Kong or China took place between July 1 and Nov. 23, 2020.

Wong belonged to a generation of young activists whose protest efforts have effectively been outlawed by the sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020.