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Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong \u200bpleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of collusion with foreign entities, a national security crime \u200cthat carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.<\/strong><\/p>\n Joshua Wong, 29, rose to international prominence as a teenage democracy activist in Hong Kong, one of a group of youngsters whose protest efforts have now effectively been outlawed by a sweeping National Security Law that Beijing \u200bimposed on the Asian financial hub in 2020.<\/p>\n Wearing a dark blue shirt and black-rimmed glasses, Wong waved \u200band nodded to people from the court\u2019s dock, inhaling deeply at times, before pleading \u2060guilty to a government-approved national security judge at Hong Kong\u2019s High Court in the district of Admiralty. The prosecution highlighted what it said was an international media and political campaign by Demosisto, a now-disbanded \u200bpolitical party that once backed a referendum on Hong Kong\u2019s sovereignty and counted Wong as one of its leaders, that sought to bring sanctions on Hong Kong and China in 2019 and 2020.<\/p>\n Joshua Wong is already in jail serving an existing sentence on an earlier \u200bnational security charge of conspiracy to commit subversion after he was among a group of democratic activists who \u200bparticipated in an unofficial primary election in 2020. His current sentence is scheduled to end next year.<\/p>\n A charge sheet seen earlier by \u200cReuters \u2060accused Wong of having conspired with exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, institutions, organizations, or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades.<\/p>\n Such actions against Hong Kong or China, along with other hostile activities targeting them, took place in 2020, between July 1 and November 23, it added.<\/p>\n Wong\u2019s case and others are being closely \u200bwatched by international human \u200brights groups and some Western \u2060countries tracking the implementation of the National Security Law.<\/p>\n His case comes after two other activists were found guilty of inciting subversion last month after they used the phrase \u201cend \u200bone-party dictatorship\u201d in their political activities.<\/p>\n Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, were part \u200bof a group \u2060known for organising annual vigils marking Beijing\u2019s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.<\/p>\n Hong Kong\u2019s National Security Law was passed on June 30, 2020, in part as a response to months of sometimes-violent pro-democracy protests that roiled the city in \u20602019.<\/p>\n While \u200binternational human rights groups and Western countries criticised the law as excessive \u200bgiven the high degree of autonomy Hong Kong was promised following its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997, Hong Kong and Chinese \u200bofficials said it was vital to restore stability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Several Western diplomats \u200battended the hearing.<\/p>\n