Call to end ‘unjust’ national security cases as Hong Kong slams ‘malicious attacks’

Ten countries – including the “Five Eyes” allies – have called for an immediate end to “unjust prosecutions” under Hong Kong’s national security law after opposition activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung was jailed for 10 years, while the government has urged foreign forces to stop their “baseless malicious attacks”.

The foreign ministers of the 10 countries issued a joint statement on Friday, a day after the High Court sentenced Wong over his role in a global campaign to instigate sanctions against mainland China and the city following the 2019 anti-government protests.

“These are further examples of how the national security law is being used to target individuals for political expression and participation,” said the statement from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“We call for an immediate end to all unjust prosecutions of individuals charged under the national security law and urge the authorities in China and Hong Kong to uphold their international commitments and honour the rights and freedoms guaranteed to the people of Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984.”

They also cited the case of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the group behind the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigils. Three former leaders were sentenced to jail terms ranging from five years and two months to seven years and three months under the national security law.

Wong’s sentence earlier drew criticism from the European Union and the US. Beijing responded by pointing to Hong Kong’s efforts to safeguard national security and urging foreign countries to stop interfering in China’s internal affairs.

Earlier in the day, the Hong Kong government condemned what it called “smears and slanders” from “various countries led by the US and the West”, alongside other “anti-China media”, overseas organisations and politicians, saying their moves “precisely reflect that the interference and threats from external forces still exist”.

“[The government] will continue to resolutely fulfil its duties and obligations to safeguard national security, combat and pursue those anti-China and destabilising elements as well as agents of external forces, while simultaneously protecting the lawful rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong residents and others in Hong Kong in accordance with the law,” a government spokesman said.

The government urged them to “recognise the objective facts and stop making any baseless malicious attacks and interferences”, he added.

Wong, 30, earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He had been scheduled to complete a sentence of four years and eight months for conspiracy to commit subversion on January 7 next year. But the latest sentence means Wong’s expected release date has been pushed back to November 2036.

The Five Eyes intelligence alliance comprises the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.