Taiwan presidential office backs Joshua Wong and urges China to stop persecuting democracy activists

Taiwan’s presidential office has backed Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong, who faces a charge under the territory’s national security law that could carry a life sentence.

Presidential Office spokesperson Ya-hui Kuo called on the Chinese Communist Party to stop suppressing dissent in the name of national security. She also urged authorities to end the persecution of democracy activists and release those held without proper justification.

Kuo said Chinese and Hong Kong authorities had long used authoritarian tools, including the Hong Kong national security law, to pursue Wong and other democracy activists. She said the prosecutions seriously violated human rights and freedoms and showed that Hong Kong’s democracy, rule of law and judicial independence continued to erode.

She described the political pressure as a negative example for the international community and repeated the call for an immediate end to the suppression and persecution of dissenters.