Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. House Speaker Emerita, called for the release of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, a Christian who could face life in prison after pleading guilty to a national security charge. She told colleagues on the House floor that lawmakers must speak out for freedom.
In a transcript of this week’s speech released by her office, Pelosi said Wong had pleaded guilty to “speaking out for freedom,” adding that he could be sentenced to life in prison for it. She said Hong Kong’s national security law was “anything but security” and amounted to “a repression law.”
Pelosi also named Jimmy Lai, whom she said was “at the other end of life.” She added that he “could spend the rest of his life in prison” and urged Congress and the international community to press for both men’s freedom.
Pelosi said Congress has long held a bipartisan record of backing human rights in Hong Kong, Tibet and elsewhere in China. She said the Chinese government’s harshest treatment of political prisoners is to tell them that no one remembers them or why they are there.
“We must speak out for freedom. We must not let this be ignored,” Pelosi said, adding that lawmakers wanted Wong and Lai to know they are remembered.
Wong, 29, entered a guilty plea on Wednesday on a charge of colluding with foreign entities, a national security offense punishable by up to life in prison, according to Reuters. Judge William Tam, one of the security judges Hong Kong’s government hand-picks to hear such cases, took the plea at the High Court in Hong Kong’s Admiralty district.
Several Western diplomats attended the hearing. Prosecutors linked the charge to Wong’s role in Demosisto, a political party that has since disbanded, and said it campaigned abroad for sanctions and other punitive action against Hong Kong and Beijing during 2019 and 2020.
The charge accused Wong of working with self-exiled dissident Nathan Law and other figures to push foreign governments, institutions and individuals toward sanctions or blockades on Hong Kong.
The alleged conduct took place between July 1 and Nov. 23, 2020.
Wong is already serving a sentence for an earlier national security conviction, conspiracy to commit subversion, tied to his role in an unofficial 2020 primary election. That sentence is due to end in January.
His lawyer, Derek Chan, argued in mitigation that Wong’s conduct did not reach the most serious level of the offense and asked for “a term at the upper end of the lower band” of three to 10 years, noting Wong has spent almost six years behind bars already.
Chan said Wong has read widely in detention, is in a positive frame of mind and wants to be released to care for his aging parents.
Judge Tam set no date but said he would rule as soon as possible.
The plea follows the convictions last month of 69-year-old Lee Cheuk-yan and 41-year-old Chow Hang-tung for inciting subversion, over their use of the phrase “end one-party dictatorship.”
Both were part of a group that organized annual vigils marking the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Wong rose to prominence as a teenage pro-democracy campaigner, helping found a student activist group and taking part in the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests, according to The Voice of San Francisco.
Wong grew up in a Christian family and attended a church-run secondary school. Time and Fortune magazines have named him among influential young leaders.
Wong asked U.S. authorities for asylum in 2020, and the outlet reported that the State Department turned down the request.
Hong Kong enacted the National Security Law on June 30, 2020, responding in part to the sometimes violent pro-democracy protests of the previous year.
International rights groups and many governments have criticized the law as excessive given the autonomy promised to Hong Kong under the Basic Law, the territory’s mini-constitution adopted at its 1997 handover from Britain to China.
