HONG KONG – Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong is convinced that he will be a “prime target” of the new security legislation that Beijing proposes to impose on the city.
The law aims to tackle separatism, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
Wong has garnered support for the pro-democracy movement abroad, meeting politicians from the United States, Europe and elsewhere, earning the wrath of Beijing, which says he is a “black hand” of foreign forces.
“I will probably be the prime target of the new law. But what makes me fear is not my potential imprisonment, but the gloomy fact that the new law will be a threat over the city’s future and not just my personal life,” Wong said.
“Journalists, human rights groups, NGOs, and expats may fall prey to the new law since all dissenting voices can be charged with inciting subversion, like the situation in China.”
The draft law has alarmed foreign governments and Hong Kong democracy activists, who are concerned that Beijing is undermining the high degree of autonomy granted to the former British colony when it reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.
China says the national security law will target only a small group of troublemakers and people who abide by the legislation have no reason to worry.
The top decision-making body of China’s parliament has scheduled a meeting for June 28-30 and the law is expected to be enforced then.
One of the most prominent faces in Hong Kong’s democracy movement, Wong, 23, began his activism during secondary school when he led a hunger strike against a national education system and later became one of the protest leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field