'Hong Kong is at a crossroads': inside prison with the student who took on Beijing

Joshua Wong was 20 when he was sentenced in 2017 to six months for his role in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy ‘umbrella movement’

By Joshua Wong

Joshua Wong outside the legislative council in Hong Kong, 2017. 

DAY 2 Friday, 18 August 2017
The last words I said before I was taken away from the courtroom were: “Hong Kong people, carry on!”
That sums up how I feel about our political struggle.
Since Occupy Central – and the umbrella movement that succeeded it – ended without achieving its stated goal, Hong Kong has entered one of its most challenging chapters.
Protesters coming out of a failed movement are overcome with disillusionment and powerlessness.
The appeal sentencing of myself and my fellow umbrella leaders Nathan Law and Alex Chow has dealt yet another devastating blow to the morale of pro-democracy activists.
Even though it feels as if we have hit rock bottom, we need to stay true to our cause.
We must.
To my friends who have decided to walk away from politics, I hope my being here and writing you this letter will convince you to reconsider.
If not, our sacrifices will have been for nothing.
I miss my mum’s hand-brewed milk tea terribly, and the chicken hotpot at the street-food restaurant where my friends and I always hang out.
That’s the first place I’ll visit as soon as I’m out of here.
But at the moment, my biggest worry is the state of my political party.
Ever since Nathan and I co-founded Demosisto in April 2016 we’ve suffered a series of significant setbacks.
Four weeks ago, Nathan lost his hard-won seat at the legislative council (LegCo) after he and five other members were disqualified on the grounds that they had failed to properly recite their oaths during the swearing-in ceremony.
Nearly everyone is now out of a job, while half of our executive committee is behind bars, or will be in the coming weeks.

A pro-democracy demonstrator at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, January 2020.

My message to the pro-Beijing camp? Don’t celebrate too soon.
I began my journey in 2012 when I led the campaign against the national education curriculum.
It’s been a tumultuous five years.
I didn’t shed a single tear when the judge announced my sentence, not because I was brave but because I wanted my supporters to embrace my loss of freedom as a necessary step on our collective path to democracy.
To quote JK Rowling’s Hagrid: “What’s coming will come and we’ll meet it when it does.”
Hong Kong is at a crossroads.
The ruling regime will stop at nothing to silence dissent.
For those who dare to stand up to them, the only way forward is together.
And tonight, alone in my cell, I ask you to keep your chin up and use your tears, anger and frustration as motivation to charge ahead. Hong Kong people, carry on!

DAY 3 Saturday, 19 August 2017
I’ve been assigned a two-person cell.
My cellmate seems friendly enough, although we didn’t have a chance to say much to each other before the lights went out.
So far the biggest source of discomfort is perhaps the bed.
In fact, calling it a bed is an over-statement.
It’s nothing more than a wooden plank with no mattress.
But, then again, if I could spend 79 nights sleeping on a highway during the umbrella movement I’m sure I can get used to this too.
Twice a day, the news is broadcast on the PA system.
This morning I was woken up by a story about Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong.
“Mr Patten told reporters that he was heartened by the sacrifices made by Joshua Wong, Alex Chow and Nathan Law, and that he believed these three names will be carved into history ...”
It felt surreal to hear my name mentioned.
The reality that I’m a convicted criminal has finally sunk in.

DAY 8 Thursday, 24 August 2017

Joshua Wong, the student who risked the wrath of Beijing: ‘It’s about turning the impossible into the possible’

I feel a little embarrassed about the enormous media attention that Alex, Nathan and I received last week.
Local newspapers plastered my picture on their front pages the day after I was sent to prison.
The reality is that countless others are being tried or are about to be tried in Hong Kong for their activism work.
Many face much harsher prison terms than we do.
Being phoneless is like having my limbs cut off or an itch I can’t scratch.

DAY 9 Friday, 25 August 2017
LegCo member Shiu Ka-chun, nicknamed “Bottle”, came to see me this morning.
I met him six years ago, when I was a 14-year-old secondary school student and he a social worker and radio presenter.
He later hosted some of my anti-national education rallies.
In the documentary Netflix made about me, Joshua: Teenager vs Superpower, there is a scene in which I appear on Bottle’s radio show and he asks if I have a girlfriend.
“My mum told me it’s too early for me to be dating,” I reply, and everyone in the studio bursts out laughing.
Neither of us would have guessed that five years later we would be talking to each other on different sides of a glass partition.

DAY 10 Saturday, 26 August 2017
A prison supervisor approached me this afternoon for a chat about recent news events.
He began by declaring himself to be an “independent”, and that he’s neither a “yellow ribbon” (a supporter of the umbrella movement) nor a “blue ribbon” (a supporter of the government and the police).
He asked me whether I had any regrets about entering politics and ending up behind bars, before launching into a 30-minute monologue on my conviction.
His point – if there was one: we all got what we asked for.

A protest march on 1 July 1 2017, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the city’s handover from British to Chinese rule.

DAY 11 Sunday, 27 August 2017
Like every other day since I arrived, a handful of inmates and I spent most of today sweeping the 2,000-sq ft canteen.
We clean after every breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Most twentysomethings in Hong Kong live with their parents and many middle-class households have a live-in maid.
My family is no exception.
I’ve never cleaned this much in my life and I keep telling myself that it’s good for my character.
Twice a day, a senior correctional officer visits the facility.
All inmates have to stand in a straight line with our chests out, make a fist with both hands, and stare, not straight ahead, but 45 degrees upwards.

DAY 15 Thursday, 31 August 2017
Today I had my first dreaded morning march.
I’m scrawny and spend nearly all my spare time playing video games and watching Japanese anime.I don’t go out much and I’ve never been athletic or particularly coordinated.
I’ll be lucky to get through the march without embarrassing or hurting myself.

DAY 18 Sunday, 3 September 2017
Three years ago, I joined hundreds of thousands of brave citizens in the largest political movement in Hong Kong’s history with the simple goal to bring true democracy to our city.
We asked to exercise our constitutional right to elect our own leader through a fair and open election. Not only did the Hong Kong government – appointed by Beijing and under its direction – ignore our demands, it also arrested and charged many of us with illegal assembly.
Until recently, the charge of unlawful assembly was used only to prosecute members of local gangs. In the past, the term “political prisoner” conjured up frightening images of dissidents in mainland China being rounded up and thrown into jail.
It’s hard to imagine that the term now also applies to Hong Kong.
As Beijing’s long arm reaches into every corner and threatens our freedoms and way of life, the number of prisoners of conscience is only going to increase.
Unfortunately, few foreign governments are willing to take on the world’s second largest economy and hold its actions to account.
For instance, I was disheartened by the latest Six-Monthly Report on Hong Kong published by the British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson.
Despite the political persecution of activists like me, he concluded that the “one country, two systems” framework was “working well”. 
As a signatory to the Sino-British joint declaration on Hong Kong, Britain has both a moral and a legal obligation to defend its former subjects and speak up on their behalf.

DAY 27 Tuesday, 12 September 2017
More than one inmate has asked me: “How much do they pay you to do your political stuff?”
At first I thought they just wanted to provoke me with accusations that I take money from foreign governments.
But I’ve slowly realised the questions are genuine.
Most people don’t understand why any sane person would risk prison to do what I do if it wasn’t for money.

DAY 41 Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Today is the third anniversary of my Civic Square siege, the event that set in motion the umbrella movement and a turning point in my life.
This time three years ago, I scaled a metal fence near the government headquarters and called on other protesters to follow me.
I was tackled by a dozen police officers and taken into custody.

Wong (left), with Alex Chow (centre) and Nathan Law outside Hong Kong’s court of final appeal, February 2018. 

DAY 66 Saturday, 21 October 2017
There’s a huge variety of political views here.
The younger prisoners tend to be yellow ribbons.
Several of them have opened up to me about their involvement in the umbrella movement and subsequent protests.
But there are plenty of hardcore blue ribbons too.
Yesterday someone from the security unit pulled me aside and told me that some older guys in the workshop had heckled me and yelled “Traitor” when I walked past.
I received letters from a few university classmates today.
We started in the same year and now they’re about to graduate.
By summer next year they’ll be starting their first jobs, moving ahead in life.

DAY 68 Monday, 23 October 2017
My last day in prison came and went like any other.
By the time I’m released I’ll have spent 69 days behind bars.
They represent an important milestone in my seven-year journey in political activism.
I’ll come out of prison stronger and more committed to our cause than ever.

* * *

In June 2019, on the heels of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a controversial fugitive transfer arrangement with China tabled by the government set off a fresh round of protests.
It felt as if it was the umbrella movement all over again, except this time protesters were angrier and more combative.
Young people’s voices went from loud to deafening as they refused to be brushed aside as they had in 2014. Street demonstrations escalated quickly after million person marches failed to move politicians. Peaceful rallies soon gave way to full-scale urban guerrilla warfare.
A new cold war is brewing between China and the rest of the democratic world, and Hong Kong is holding the line in one of its first battles.
Nothing captures that tension more vividly than the moments on 1 October 2019 when live coverage of the 70th anniversary celebrations in Beijing were shown side by side with scenes of demonstrators braving teargas and throwing eggs at Xi Jinping’s portraits on the streets of Hong Kong.
The contrast sends a clear message to the world that China’s tightening grip on Hong Kong is part of a much broader threat to global democracy.
In May 2019, I went to prison for the second time. 
I spent seven weeks at Lai Chi Kok Correctional Institution for violating a court injunction during the umbrella movement.
I tried to comfort my parents and joked that my biggest regret was having to miss the opening night of Avengers: Endgame, the sequel to Avengers: Infinity War. 
Before I headed to prison, a foreign reporter asked me for a soundbite about my second incarceration and China’s crackdown on pro-democracy activists in general.
I thought about the discussion I had with my parents and said: “This isn’t our endgame. Our fight against the CCP is an infinity war.”
The infinity war that has ravaged Hong Kong for years, I am afraid, may be coming soon to a political theatre near you.

• Edited extract from Unfree Speech by Joshua Wong and Jason Y Ng, published by WH Allen (RRP £9.99) on 30 January. To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15.

Hong Kong's fight for freedom

China can silence me. But it can’t silence Hong Kong’s movement.

By Joshua Wong

'It is a war here now.' In Hong Kong, what began as peaceful protests has become a de facto war about the future of democracy. 

This week I was deprived of the right to participate in Hong Kong’s political system.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong authorities barred me from running in local elections for district council. 

I was the only candidate barred. 

Laura Aron, the officer who made the decision, claimed that my nomination was invalid largely because of my affiliation with Demosisto, a pro-democracy party that I helped co-found. 

She said she did not believe I would uphold Hong Kong’s Basic Law.
In reality, the decision to target me was clearly politically driven, based on my role championing democratic rights in Hong Kong and engaging with the issue at an international level. 

This is nothing short of political screening and censorship.
In mid-October, I received two letters from Dorothy Ma, an officer who was screening my candidacy, asking me to “clarify” my political views. 

Though I had no desire to play along with attempts at censorship, I responded explaining my position and noting that authorities should not screen candidates. 

I did not hear back from Ma for a week. 

Then, when I finally visited Ma’s office, I was told she was on leave due to sickness and was being replaced by Aron. 

The replacement process lacked transparency and did not follow the normal practice of appointing an officer who worked under Ma or was from a neighboring district. 

Soon after, Aron announced the decision to bar me.
When I first decided to run for the district council position, I understood that Beijing might decide to thwart my candidacy. 

The decision, and the suspicious way it was made, exposes to the world just how much Hong Kong is already under Beijing’s authoritarian grip.
This is not the first time Hong Kong authorities have infringed on my political rights and those of my fellow activists. 

I myself have been placed in jail three times for my activism. 

After spending several months in prison this year for my role in the Umbrella Movement, I was released in June, but was arrested again in August alongside my colleague Agnes Chow for participating in the protests. 

Previously, the Hong Kong government disqualified six elected, pro-democracy legislators between 2016 and 2017.
This most recent outrage shows that Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have not learned from protests. 

The protesters are calling for Beijing to respect its own promise to allow Hong Kong a democratic system until 2047, under the “one country, two systems” policy. 

This was a chance for Hong Kong’s government to show it had heard the cries of Hong Kong’s young generation and to bring a youth voice into the district council.
But Beijing is not even willing to allow Hong Kong a short window of freedom. 

Along with recent crackdowns against demonstrators on the streets, this highlights once again the importance of the protesters’ five demands for the Hong Kong government: to fully withdraw the controversial extradition bill that triggered the protests; establish a commission to look into police brutality; retract the description of protesters as “rioters;” provide amnesty to those arrested in the protests; and commit to universal suffrage for electing the chief executive and entire Legislative Council until 2047.
This is a moment when the international community must speak up. 

In the United States, the House just passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. 

After learning of the news of my barring, several senators have called for its swift passage in the Senate, too. 

This is crucial. 

Three senators have also introduced the Hong Kong Be Water Act, which would sanction government officials responsible for cracking down on freedom of expression in Hong Kong. 

These actions would signal to Beijing that it should loosen its grip or face international pressure.
My candidacy may have been barred. 

But our movement continues — and this has only catalyzed more anger and frustration among young Hong Kongers hoping for change. 

My friend and colleague Kelvin Lam has bravely decided to run in my place. 

Angus Wong and Tiffany Yuen — who were staffers under Nathan Law, a lawmaker disqualified in 2017 at Beijing’s behest — are also running for office. 

I will spend the next few weeks campaigning for them, and will continue to push for human rights in Hong Kong going forward.
And on Nov. 24, Hong Kongers must vote to have their voices heard. 

The election is a referendum on Beijing’s actions, and an opportunity to show the strength of our will and stand up for our rights. 

Beijing can bar me from running, but I refuse to be silenced. 

Democracy begins on the ground — and China cannot silence us all.

Hong Kong Bars Joshua Wong, a Prominent Activist, From Seeking Election

Mr. Wong, a leader of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, had planned to run for a district council position amid widespread public anger with the government.
By Austin Ramzy and Elaine Yu

The democracy activist Joshua Wong speaking outside the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong on Tuesday, after being barred from running in district council elections next month.

HONG KONG — The Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday barred Joshua Wong, a prominent democracy activist, from running in district council elections next month, a blow to the protest movement’s efforts to convert deep anger toward the authorities into electoral gains.
The government cited statements by Mr. Wong’s political organization that the future of Hong Kong should be determined by its people, and independence is a possible option. 

An official said those statements were incompatible with the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, which states that the semiautonomous city is part of China.
“The candidate cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the relevant electoral laws, since advocating or promoting ‘self-determination’ is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance” to Hong Kong, the government said in a statement.
Mr. Wong said the decision showed that China’s central government was manipulating the election, which is expected to be a key test of public sentiment about the protest movement.
In a news conference outside the Hong Kong government headquarters, he called the decision to bar him “a political order that Beijing has handed down.”
Earlier he said that the official who made the decision had been relegated to a role as the “thought police.”
The district council elections, which will be held on Nov. 24, are usually focused on local issues such as bus stops and neighborhood beautification. 

But the race is taking on a broader political significance this year. 

Whichever side wins the most seats will control 117 votes in the 1,200-member election committee that chooses the next chief executive, Hong Kong’s top government position.
The pro-democracy camp’s fears of even wider prohibitions on their candidates seeking office have not been realized, as Mr. Wong will most likely be the only candidate barred from the district council race.
He said Tuesday that he hoped voters would support another candidate, Kelvin Lam, who had registered to run in the event of Mr. Wong’s disqualification.
Mr. Wong, 23, grew to international prominence as a student leader during the 2014 Umbrella Movement, when protesters occupied streets for weeks to push for freer elections. 

He was sentenced to short prison terms twice over the 2014 protests, and was still in custody in June when the current protest movement began.
The current protest movement began as a fight over a now-withdrawn extradition bill and has expanded its demands to include an investigation into use of force by the police and direct elections for the chief executive and the entire Legislative Council.
Unlike 2014, there are no widely known protest leaders. 

But Mr. Wong has remained a prominent participant and has been regularly attacked in the state-run Chinese media. 

In August, he and Agnes Chow, another 2014 protest leader who belongs to the same political group, Demosisto, were arrested on unauthorized assembly charges for a June 21 protest, when thousands of protesters surrounded police headquarters.
Ms. Chow was disqualified from running for the Legislative Council last year over similar questions of support for self-determination, including an option for independence. 

She won an appeal last month, with a judge ruling that she had insufficient opportunity to respond to the grounds for disqualification.
Ms. Chow said that ruling was a “Pyrrhic victory,” because it still upheld the ability of officials to disqualify candidates based on their political beliefs.
Mr. Wong had previously publicly shared his response to the official who disqualified him, Laura Aron, on Facebook on Saturday, where he argued that his advocacy remains within the bounds of the city’s Constitution.
“My position is that any decision on Hong Kong’s future should be carried out within the constitutional framework of ‘one country, two systems,’” he wrote. 

“Supporting democratic self-determination does not mean supporting Hong Kong’s independence from the central government of the People’s Republic of China.”
He added that comments two weeks ago by Chinese dictator Xi Jinping that any effort to divide the country would end in failure showed the futility of upholding such a position.
When Mr. Xi “threatened in strong terms that ‘anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones,’ I believe that in reality Hong Kong independence cannot become an acceptable option,” Mr. Wong wrote.
Ms. Aron wrote in her decision that by referring to Mr. Xi’s comments, Mr. Wong suggested that “both Demosisto and he were pressed into saying that they have given up the notion as a compromise, instead of a genuine intention.”

Joshua Wong: World's pro-democracy poster child

Joshua Wong is hailed as one of the world's most influential figures by Time, Fortune and Foreign Policy magazines.
By Jerome TAYLOR

Joshua Wong is one of the most prominent faces in Hong Kong's leaderless pro-democracy movement.

Joshua Wong, the Hong Kong activist soon to visit the United States, was the unlikely hero of the Umbrella Movement that inspired hundreds of thousands to take over Hong Kong's streets for 79 days in 2014 calling for free elections.
Five years later, the 22-year-old is one of the most prominent faces in the city's leaderless pro-democracy movement, often seen on rallies, locked up by police and individually called out by the Chinese government.
Scrawny, with gaunt features and a studious frown, Wong has now taken his fight around the globe, recently meeting with politicians in Taiwan, holding talks in Berlin with the German foreign minister, and has speaking engagements scheduled in the United States.
Since Hong Kong's mass protests began earlier this year, he has been in and out of custody and was among several high-profile activists rounded up in August, a day before the fifth anniversary of Beijing's rejection of a call for universal suffrage in the city which sparked the 79-day Umbrella Movement.
The arrests were seen as a chilling warning to the current movement.

Activist at 13
Wong spearheaded the Umbrella protests alongside fellow student leaders Nathan Law and Alex Chow, and his speeches and calls for civil disobedience electrified the crowds but the movement failed to win any concessions from China or Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leaders.
He captured the attention of the world in his casting as David against the Goliath of the Chinese Communist Party, and was hailed as one of the world's most influential figures by Time, Fortune and Foreign Policy magazines.
He even became the subject of the Netflix documentary "Teenager vs Superpower", released in 2017.
Born to middle-class Christian parents Grace and Roger Wong, he began his life of activism aged just 13 with a protest against plans for a high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and the mainland.
At the age of just 15, Wong campaigned successfully for Hong Kong to drop a pro-China "National Education" programme, rallying a crowd of 120,000 to blockade the city's parliament for 10 days.
In many ways, he pioneered a method of demonstration that has since been embraced by Hong Kong's current protest movement -- seizing streets in non-violent civil disobedience -- after years of peaceful rallies failed to achieve much.
But he has paid for his activism: prosecutors came after him and many of the Umbrella Movement's leaders.

Joshua Wong and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

'The city I love'
In May, he was sentenced to two months in prison on a contempt charge after pleading guilty to obstructing the clearance of a major protest camp in 2014.
He was also convicted in a second case related to the storming of a government forecourt during the 2014 protests.
He spent some time behind bars for that case, but in the end the city's top court ruled that community service was sufficient punishment.
He went on to found the political party Demosisto, which campaigns for more self-determination for Hong Kong but not independence -- a clear red line for Beijing.
Wong's demands have been both consistent and fairly simple: that Hong Kongers should get to decide their city's fate, not Communist Party officials in Beijing.
Since the end of the Umbrella Movement, he has been denied entry into Malaysia and Thailand, attacked in the street, and abused by pro-China protesters in Taiwan. 

But he has said he will fight on.
In an article written for Time from prison in June, he wrote: "My lack of freedom today is a price I knew I would have to pay for the city I love."
He stepped back into the fray shortly after when authorities released him just one month into his prison term, immediately calling for Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam to step down over her role pushing for the controversial extradition proposal that sparked the current wave of protests.
Authorities did not confirm whether the decision was procedural or a gesture to protestors.
After the bill was eventually scrapped in early September, Wong vowed to fight on, deeming its withdrawal "Too little, too late".
"Our determination and courage to fight for freedom will still continue," he said. 

"Hong Kongers deserve universal suffrage. We deserve to elect our own government."

My town is the new Cold War's Berlin: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong

Joshua Wong spoke to Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on protests situation, free election and democracy in Hong Kong

By Thomas Escritt

Joshua Wong spoke to Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas

BERLIN --  Comparing the struggle of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters to the role of Berlin during the Cold War, activist Joshua Wong told an audience in the German capital that his city was now a bulwark between the free world and the “dictatorship of China”.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong attends the summer party "Bild 100" of German publisher Axel Springer at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, September 9, 2019. 

The 22-year-old activist, who was in Berlin for a newspaper-sponsored event at the German parliament celebrating human rights activists around the world, pledged that protests would not be lulled into complacency by the decision of the city’s government to drop a contested new extradition law.
“If we are in a new Cold War, Hong Kong is the new Berlin,” he said in a reception space a stone’s throw from the Berlin Wall on the roof of the Reichstag building, which for decades occupied the no-man’s land between Communist East Berlin and the city’s capitalist western half.
Hong Kong has been convulsed by months of unrest since its government announced attempts to make it easier to extradite suspects to China, a move seen as a prelude to bringing the pluralistic autonomous region more in line with the mainland.
Wong, leader of the Demosisto pro-democracy movement, has become a prominent face of the protests.
“We urge the free world to stand together with us in resisting the Chinese autocratic regime,” he added, describing Chinese leader Xi Jinping as “not a president but an emperor.”
The city’s leader, Carrie Lam, announced concessions this week to try to end the protests, including formally scrapping the bill, but Wong said protesters would not be lulled into complacency.
He said they would try to hold the city’s government responsible for human rights violations committed against protesters, adding that Lim’s climb-down was a ruse to buy calm ahead of China’s Oct. 1 national day.
He had briefly been detained by Hong Kong authorities before his departure earlier in the day for breaching bail conditions following his arrest in August when he was charged along with other prominent activists with inciting and participating in an unauthorized assembly.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has just returned from a trip to China, during which she faced criticism from Germany for not engaging more directly with the Hong Kong protesters, whose cause is popular in Germany, though she did call for a peaceful solution to the Hong Kong unrest.

Joshua Wong Visits Taiwan to Meet With Ruling Party

By Samson Ellis

Joshua Wong arrives in Taipei on Sept. 3. 

Leading Hong Kong pro-democracy activists including Joshua Wong arrived in Taiwan for a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen’s ruling party, just days after Taipei denied playing a role in Hong Kong’s unrest.
Wong was scheduled to meet with Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Cho Jung-tai on Tuesday, as well as representatives of the pro-independence New Power Party, before giving a talk in the evening. 

The 22-year-old Demosisto party secretary general was accompanied by Hong Kong lawmaker Eddie Chu and former student leader Lester Shum.
Wong -- the subject of a Netflix documentary titled “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower” -- said in a Facebook post he was in Taiwan to arrange what he called a “large-scale gathering” to show support for Hong Kong. 

“A large display of support for Hong Kong by the Taiwanese public, showing the Chinese Communist Party the unity between the peoples of Taiwan and Hong Kong, would give us a huge amount of strength,” Wong said.
Tsai, whose DPP supports independence, has stepped up her criticism of Beijing as the Hong Kong protests fuel new skepticism about unification with China. 

Her critiques have led Chinese officials to list Taiwan, along with the U.S. and the U.K., among the “black hands” it says are behind almost three months of historic protests.
Wong was among several Hong Kong activists arrested last week in a crackdown on protest leaders condemned by Tsai. 

Earlier Tuesday, Wong said another Demosisto leader, Ivan Lam, was detained by authorities at Hong Kong’s airport. 

Wong was released on bail shortly after his arrest.

Last Hong Kong bookshop selling titles banned in China shuts

The People’s Bookshop shut its doors after pressure from the puppet government
By Carlotta Dotto in Hong Kong

The recently closed People Book Cafe in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district, which sold books banned by the Communist Party of China. 

The last bookshop in Hong Kong selling titles banned by the Communist Party on the mainland has closed, marking the last chapter of the city’s historic independent publishing scene.
Human rights activists and publishers have raised grave concerns over the closure of the People’s Bookstore, a tiny shop in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district, known to be the last source of literary contraband in the city, in the latest example of China’s tightening pressure over the city.
The Guardian spoke to locals familiar with the matter who believe bookseller Paul Tang closed the shop under pressure from the government. 

A frequent visitor of the shop, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the city “was once the place where mainland readers came looking for the truth. But today, you’re afraid to even mention these forbidden topics.”
Fears that Beijing has hardened its policy on freedom of speech were raised earlier this month when the Financial Times’ Asia news editor, Victor Mallet, had his visa effectively revoked and the pro-independence Hong Kong National party was banned.
The closure follows the disappearance and detention of five city booksellers in 2015, who were linked to the Mighty Current publishing house that produced critical books about China’s leadership.
Joshua Wong, one of the leaders of the 2014 Occupy Movement, told the Guardian the closure “marks the definitive proof of Hong Kong’s lack of freedom”.
Benedict Rogers, co-founder and chair of the NGO Hong Kong Watch, said: “Hong Kong used to be a window onto China, a sanctuary for books that tell the truth about the mainland. But freedom of expression and of the press have been significantly eroded in recent years, and the closure of bookshops selling banned books is a further example of this.”
The former British colony has preserved much of its autonomy since its return to Chinese rule in 1997, including its own laws on liberal publication rights. 

Several publishing houses and bookshops flourished selling works that a couple of miles away were forbidden, attracting buyers from all over the mainland.
Tang discovered the niche market in 2004 and the boom came right after. 

“It was a crazy time,” said the bookseller, who attracted mainland customers with a portrait of Mao at the entrance of his shop. 

“Publishers printed a title after the other, and we were selling a hundred books a day,” he said.

Hong Kong bookshops pull politically sensitive titles after publishers vanish

High on the best-seller list of forbidden books were taboo topics such as politics, religion, and sex. From the private life of Mao Zedong to the history of the cultural revolution, mainland customers could leaf through books supporting the 1989 Tiananmen Square movement or essays on the struggles within the Communist party, as well as bluer topics such as oral sex bibles and sadomasochism guides.
When the Chinese government increased its pressure, “the industry experienced a significant turndown and banned book are not published any more,” said Malinda Ye, Acquisition Editor at the Chinese University Press.
“This is a very worrying situation,” said Agnes Chow Ting, social activist and member of the pro-democracy party Demosisto, who was recently banned from running for Hong Kong’s legislative council. 

“A lot of chained bookstores and book publishers in Hong Kong are controlled by liaison office of the Chinese government,” she said.
The closure of the shop leaves Hong Kong with no outlet that challenges censorship. 

Albert Cheng, renowned Hong Kong political commentator, said the concern was that “the ‘one country, two systems’ principle will gradually fade, while Hong Kong will become simply another Chinese city.”

China’s Authoritarian Export

Beijing forces the expulsion of a reporter from Hong Kong.
Wall Street Journal

Financial Times Asia Editor Victor Mallet speaks at the Foreign Correspondents' Club luncheon in Hong Kong, Aug. 14. 

Hong Kong last week refused to renew the work visa of Financial Times Asia Editor Victor Mallet and gave him seven days to leave the territory. 

The unprecedented expulsion is the latest attack on civil liberties and the rule of law in the former British colony, which was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 but with autonomy for 50 years.
The government won’t say why it expelled Mr. Mallet, but it appears to be part of a crackdown on young politicians who espouse independence or self-determination. 

On July 17 the government proposed using an anti-organized crime law to ban the Hong Kong National Party, a tiny group calling for independence from China. 

The Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club, with Mr. Mallet as acting president, invited the party’s founder to speak.
That touched off a tantrum. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry officials demanded the club cancel the event, and the Hong Kong government issued a statement that “providing a public platform for a speaker to openly advocate independence completely disregards Hong Kong’s constitutional duty to uphold national sovereignty. It is totally unacceptable and deeply regrettable.”
The FCC went ahead with the speech, which was legal, and Mr. Mallet introduced the speaker. Newspapers owned by Beijing poured vitriol on the club, and former Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying called for the FCC to be evicted from its rented premises in a government-owned building. 

The government then banned the National Party as a threat to national security.
Meanwhile, pro-Beijing figures in Hong Kong are calling for new laws against subversion. 

The government last tried to pass such laws in 2003, when more than half a million protesters took to the streets. 

Local officials seem reluctant to refight that battle. 

But in January an electoral official disqualified a legislative candidate from Demosisto, a large opposition party that calls for self-determination but not independence.
Mr. Mallet’s expulsion is also an attack on Hong Kong’s tradition as a free-press redoubt in Asia. Journalists have used Hong Kong for decades as a base to report on China, confident that they could do so freely. 

Now China is barring a journalist for no more than providing a public forum for a dissenter.
The case shows that hardline Chinese officials who staff Beijing’s Liaison Office are calling the shots in Hong Kong. 

Xi Jinping’s authoritarian crackdown is spreading from the mainland to wherever China can dominate or exert influence. 

The trend is one reason world opinion is building against China as a threat to democracy and freedom.

Enemy of the Chinese state: 21-year-old activist Agnes Chow

Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner who was banned from office says an entire generation of young people is being targeted
By Benjamin Haas

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow at her campaign headquarters
If China has its way, Agnes Chow’s political career will be over before it begins.
The self-described “average schoolgirl” who transformed into a thorn in the side of the Chinese leadership was last week blocked from running for political office in Hong Kong because of her party’s pro-democracy manifesto.
The unprecedented move penalises mere affiliation with a political idea and was designed to prevent Chow and her Demosisto party colleagues from entering the Legislative Council.
It was the latest blow to democracy activists in the former British colony after a year that saw popularly elected lawmakers removed and protest leaders jailed.
In the past, authorities targeted independence activists, but with Chow it was her party’s support for the vague idea of “self-determination” that doomed her candidacy.
However, the softly spoken 21-year-old is refusing to go quietly and has called on the international community to defend Hong Kong’s right to resist rule from China.
At what was once her campaign headquarters in a tiny studio in a building filled with DIY bookstores and art spaces, Chow predicts a bleak outlook for democracy in Hong Kong unless the international community speaks up.
“The ban against me isn’t personal, it’s targeting an entire generation of young people who have a different view from the government,” she says. 

“The government only wants young people who will show their affection for China and the Communist party. Any deviation of thought is now unacceptable.”
Chow renounced her British citizenship – a requirement to stand for election – and postponed her studies to run for office, but views neither as a sacrifice.
“Many people may see this as a sacrifice, but it’s not for me,” she says. 

“I’m committed to fighting for Hong Kong and it’s nothing compared to those who have gone to prison.”
As the crisis played out in Hong Kong, British prime minister Theresa May met Xi Jinping in Beijing and pledged to raise the thorny topic of human rights. 

But Chow saw the visit as a missed opportunity.
“The UK needs to show a stronger attitude, that they are really holding China to account,” Chow says. 

“I had high expectations of Theresa May’s response, compared to other countries, since the UK has an international treaty with China and an obligation to monitor the situation here.”
She describes a Foreign Office statement that said the UK was “concerned” over her electoral rejection as “weak and feeble”. 

The European Union and Canada issued more direct rebukes, saying the move “risks diminishing Hong Kong’s international reputation as a free and open society”.
And US lawmakers recently nominated Chow’s fellow activists for the 2018 Nobel peace prize, commending them for being “unflinching in their peaceful and principled commitment to a free and prosperous Hong Kong”.
Chow was not always destined to become the target of Beijing’s ire. 

She grew up in what she describes as an apolitical household where social issues were never mentioned.
But when she was 15, she came across a Facebook post showing thousands of young people agitating for change – secondary school students just like her – and never looked back.
Amid government plans to introduce “moral and national education” in 2012 – criticised by opponents as Communist brainwashing – students began staging sit-ins outside government headquarters. 

Chow joined the demonstrations and it was there she met Joshua Wong, another young activist who would go on to become the most prominent voice in a new generation of democracy advocates.
Together with Wong, Chow represented fresh ideas and a new direction for the opposition, a movement that has been dominated for nearly two decades by politicians who grew up under British colonial rule, which ended in 1997.
The pair, along with Nathan Law, founded the political party Demosisto in the wake of 11 weeks of street protests in 2014 that inspired a generation of young people but ultimately failed to secure concessions from the government over how the city’s leader is elected. 

It was their party’s support for “self-determination” which a Hong Kong official said made her ineligible to run.
“The battlefield may have changed, but our commitment to fight for democracy and human rights has not,” says Wong. 

“Maybe we can never run for office again, maybe we can never enter these institutions, but they are just a small slice of a larger cake.”
Chow and Wong both fear the government is redefining what types of political positions are unacceptable, and that it will continue its campaign against more traditional opposition politicians. Law was previously elected to the legislature on the same party platform that officials now say is a disqualifying factor.
“[Chow’s ban] shows the government will progressively target everyone in the pro-democracy camp,” Wong says.
For now, Chow has not decided if she will take her case to court. 

She has already thrown herself into working on the campaign of the pro-democracy candidate who replaced her, and has staged protests against her ban.
But the government’s decision to ban her in effect excludes anyone from her and Wong’s party from ever contesting an election, and Chow believes it is only the beginning of a wider plan to silence dissent.
“In the future I worry anyone who opposes any government policy be twisted into enemies of the state,” she says.

Joshua Wong: China rise means trade trumps rights

Associated Press

Young Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong listens to questions during an interview outside the legislative council in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. The 21-year-old Wong, who is currently appealing a prison sentence related to pro-democracy protests, warns that China's rise means human rights are in increasingly greater danger of being overshadowed globally by business interests.

HONG KONG -- Young Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong warned Wednesday that China's rise means human rights are in increasingly greater danger of being overshadowed globally by business interests.

He was responding to questions about his expectations for an upcoming Asian tour by U.S. President Donald Trump, who will visit China and four other countries.

The 21-year-old Wong, Hong Kong's most famous activist, is out on bail while he appeals a prison sentence related to his involvement in massive 2014 pro-democracy protests.

"Business interests override human rights," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"It unfortunately seems to be a common trend in the world" under a rising China.

During Trump's Asian trip, he said there's likely to be "a lot of uncertainty. No one can expect what will suddenly be published on his Twitter."

But he urged Trump to not let human rights lose out to commercial considerations, hinting that U.S. business interests could also someday be directly affected by China's rising clout.

As an example, he referred to the recent case of British human rights activist Benedict Rogers, who was barred from entering Hong Kong on Beijing's request, and said it might happen again.

"The day may come for U.S. politicians to be blocked from entering Hong Kong and when politicians or businessmen from the U.S. might not be possible to enter such an international financial center, how can they keep silent on the erosion of Hong Kong autonomy?" he said.

Beijing promised to let Hong Kong maintain wide autonomy and civil liberties after its 1997 handover from Britain under the "one country, two systems" blueprint, but China's Communist rulers are reneging on their pledge.

Wong urged the U.S. and other Western countries to pay closer attention to "how the China model threatens Asia-Pacific stability."

The China model is a reference to economic development without corresponding democratic reforms, as well as the name of a controversial booklet praising China's one-party rule that the Hong Kong government planned to distribute in 2012 to schools as part of "moral and national education."

Wong helped lead protests that forced the government to shelve those plans.

Wong was given bail last week, two months into a six-month prison sentence.

He and a fellow activist, Nathan Law, were both sent to prison after the justice secretary won a legal challenge overturning more lenient sentences.

The move sparked fears Hong Kong's independent judiciary is under threat. They are due in court Nov. 7 to appeal the sentences.

Wong, who is also awaiting sentencing in another case, is prepared to go back to jail.

He turned 21 while behind bars and said it "might not be the last time I will celebrate my birthday inside prison."

Though he has become synonymous with Hong Kong's democracy movement, Wong said it was important not to forget others who are also paying a price but haven't attracted the same international spotlight.

Two dozen other young activists are serving prison sentences longer than his, "just because they were asking for democracy, freedom and human rights by non-violent civil disobedience," he said.

During his time behind bars, Wong did compulsory marching exercises 30 minutes a day and ate with a spoon because forks, knives and chopsticks are banned.

Asked if the prison guards singled him out for harsher treatment, he said, "They treated me fairly with swear words and foul language."

Not allowed a phone, he couldn't update his popular social media accounts but said being unplugged allowed him the opportunity for "spiritual reflection."

Prison news was limited to Hong Kong's pro-Beijing publications, but he read books such as "I Am Malala" by 20-year-old Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai.

Letters from supporters in places like New York, London and Berlin helped buoy his spirits.

Out of prison, he is making the most of time, hanging out with his parents and girlfriend, playing video games and enjoying favorite local foods like Hong Kong-style milk tea.

Wong plans to keep fighting for full democracy in Hong Kong.

In the short term, he said his political party, Demosisto , will announce a candidate as early as next week to run in an election next year to fill a seat in the city's semi-democratic legislature vacated when Law was disqualified because of a government legal challenge.

In the long run, he said there's plenty of work to do getting Hong Kongers to "adjust their mindset" to resist Beijing's tightening grip.

"I still believe Hong Kong people can overcome, even though we are inside the prison set by China."

Young Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong poses during an interview outside the legislative council in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. The 21-year-old Wong, who is currently appealing a prison sentence related to pro-democracy protests, warns that China's rise means human rights are in increasingly greater danger of being overshadowed globally by business interests.

Hong Kong pro-democracy July 1 march takes over streets on 20th anniversary of city’s handover

Thousands join annual march from Victoria Park, which kicked off a few hours after Xi Jinping ended his visit to the city, but rain causes cancellation of rally
By Ng Kang-chung, Emily Tsang, Rachel Blundy, Julia Hollingsworth, Elizabeth Cheung, Jane Li, Nikki Sun

The march marks the anniversary of the city’s handover to Chinese rule. 

Protesters were assaulted by police at July 1 march

Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters took part in a march on Saturday afternoon marking the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule.
Organisers said 60,000 had taken part, but the police estimate – which tends to be lower than organisers’ – was not available.
Au Nok-hin, convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organises the annual march, conceded that turnout this year had been “lower that what we announced in the past few years”.
“But I appreciate those who took to the streets today as protesters nowadays are facing more risks than before, “ he said, adding that rain had affected turnout.
Au described the freedom of assembly in Hong Kong as being under threat, pointing to the detention of a dozen pro-democracy activists for staging a rally during the just-concluded three-day visit of Xi Jinping.
Bad weather was partly to blame for turnout not hitting the 100,000 predicted by organisers, who had to abort a planned public rally outside government headquarters at Tamar Park, the end of the route.
Rain-soaked marchers dispersed quickly after arriving, swamping the concourse of Admiralty MTR station. 

The last of the protesters reached Tamar at 7.10pm.
The 3km march started at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay.
Participants set off shortly after 3pm, two hours after Xi concluded his three-day visit to the city.
At 3.10pm, Lam Wing-kee, one of the five Causeway Bay booksellers controversially taken into mainland custody in 2015, made a speech on the stage.
Banners laid out for the pro-democracy march

A coalition of pro-Beijing groups also held events in the park, while other opponents of the pan-democrats swamped the alleys nearby, condemning the bloc and “anti-China elements”.
Au said more and more people were getting frustrated by the increasing influence of Beijing on the city, which is supposed to enjoy a high degree of autonomy.
Au said that growing concerns over jailed mainland dissident Liu Xiaobo and Beijing’s recent claim that the Sino-British Joint Declaration “no longer has any realistic meaning” could spark more people to take to the streets.
He was referring to the remarks of the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman who on Friday said the joint declaration of 1984 no longer had practical significance or binding force on Beijing.
Liu, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his writings promoting political reform in China, was recently granted parole to be treated for late-stage liver cancer.
The pro-democracy marches, which have been held annually on handover day since 1997, became increasingly significant in 2003 after half a million protesters came out against a government plan to introduce an antisubversion law.
Turnout was lowest in 2005 when only 21,000 people took part, according to the organisers.
The front had used pitches at Victoria Park, which can accommodate tens of thousands of people, as the starting point for marches since 2004.
But this year it was forced to kick things off on the park’s lawn, because the six football pitches were booked by the Hong Kong Celebrations Association, a group of about 40 pro-Beijing groups and business chambers.
Regular marchers looked confused by the switch when they entered the park as usual.
Volunteers and marshals soon directed them to make a 5-minute walk to the starting point.
Ms Kwan carried a sign with a message for the government. 

One of the marchers was 70-year-old poet Ms Kwan, who said she’d been going to the annual march since 1997.
“I don’t understand politics, and don’t really want to comment on it,” she said. 

“But how can I not come out, seeing my beloved city shrinking in terms of freedom of speech?”
She said it had taken her an hour to make the Chinese calligraphy board she carried, which had a message for the government.
“We are not begging for sympathy but seeking justice. One country, two systems has been cheating Hongkongers for 20 years,” one of the lines read.
Hongkonger Wong Ting-kwok, 67, said he had also been coming to the march for 20 years. 

He said he continued to come out every year to remind people that the mainland government made promises about the city’s autonomy, but he said the political situation was getting worse.
“In the beginning we did have hope for change,” he said, adding that those hopes had faded because of the situation on the mainland.

Isaac Cheng, of Demosisto, was also on the march.
He said he did not expect Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to do much for Hong Kong, saying she had achieved little in her previous political roles.
Isaac Cheng Ka-long, 17, who is a standing committee member for political party Demosisto, said he joined the pro-democracy movement a year ago because he wanted universal suffrage.
“When Hong Kong has a more democratic situation, everyone will be more willing to listen to the voices of our people,” he said. 

“Some people think we are just creating chaos for Hong Kong, but actually we are not. We want to gain universal suffrage.”

Singers Anthony Wong and Denise Ho were at the march.
There were also some famous faces on the route.
Well-known Canto-pop singer and democracy advocate Denise Ho Wan-sze said it was her sixth year of going to the march.
Also an LGBT rights campaigner, Ho said she had been trying to push the government to pass several bills on the issue since 2012, but with little progress.
“I wish Carrie Lam to bring some change to the situation, but it seems not very likely,” she said.
Ho was joined by 55-year-old singer Anthony Wong Yiu-Ming, also a vocal LGBT rights activist.
He said he had been disappointed by Xi’s visit.

Gregory Wong Chung-yiu.
“Xi only talked to those politicians from the establishment camp, and tycoons, but not those from the grassroots communities in Hong Kong. I was really disappointed by that,” he said.
And actor Gregory Wong Chung-yiu was seen at the end of the throng, at the junction of Hennessy Road and Fleming Road.
“I think the July 1 march is something Hongkongers should do,” he said.
“We just want to tell the others we want more self-determination. I hope the function of Legislative Council will not worsen.”
Mei Lee, 40, and administrative worker, and Leo Chim, who is 39 and works at a digital agency, are a married couple. 

They said they had been at the march for the past few years.
“Many Hong Kong people are tired of politics and think there’s no use in coming out today,” Chim said.
“The government is arranging other celebration events to cover our voice. Our voice will become smaller and smaller in the future.”