Joshua Wong pleads guilty in foreign collusion case
Bastillepost · 1 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
Former Demosisto secretary-general Joshua Wong Chi-fung (黃之鋒), who is already serving four years and eight months in the “35+ subversion case”, pleaded guilty on Wednesday at the High Court to one count of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security. Judge Alex Tam Yiu-ho, a designated national security judge, adjourned sentencing after Wong confirmed the prosecution’s facts and admitted the offence.
Key Points
- Wong, 29, was arrested in prison in June 2025 while serving his sentence in the “35+ subversion case”, and was charged over conduct alleged between July 1 and November 23, 2020.
- The charge alleges he conspired in Hong Kong with former Demosisto chair Nathan Law Kwun-chung and other unidentified persons to request foreign sanctions, blockades or other hostile actions against Hong Kong or China.
- Prosecutors said Wong and Law had agreed as early as 2016 to pursue political goals through international lobbying, and later joined an “international front” seeking foreign pressure on Hong Kong and Beijing.
- The prosecution cited meetings in the United States, Germany and Italy, including contacts with Nancy Pelosi, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton and former German foreign minister Heiko Maas.
- The case also cites support for the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, calls to halt exports of weapons and crowd-control equipment, and post-national security law appeals to stop supplying Cellebrite forensic software to Hong Kong police.
Why It Matters
The offence carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if the court finds the case “of a grave nature”, making the coming sentencing hearing a closely watched test of how Hong Kong courts assess overseas lobbying under the national security law. It is also described in court as Hong Kong’s second conspiracy to collude with foreign forces case after the Jimmy Lai proceedings.