HK separatist gets 10 years in prison

Joshua Wong Chi-fung, an instigator of anti-China riots in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, was sentenced to 10 years in prison under the National Security Law of the region on Thursday for "conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security" after the law's promulgation on June 30, 2020.

Two months and two days of the 10-year prison term will be served concurrently for another offense in a separate case.

National security judge William Tam Yiu-ho first set the penalty at 13 years, and then reduced it to 10 years, considering Wong's plea and mitigation, the minimum term for an offense "of a grave nature" under the NSL.

Wong, one of the founders of the now-disbanded "political party" Demosisto, who is already serving a prison sentence for subversion, pleaded guilty in the High Court on Sept 2 to one count of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign countries or external elements to endanger national security.

Wong was found to have conspired with his fellow "party" member, fugitive former legislator Nathan Law Kwun-chung and others to seek support from the international community to impose sanctions, blockades or other hostile actions against the Hong Kong SAR and the Chinese mainland between July 1 and Nov 23, 2020.

"The punishment must fit the gravity of the crime committed. It is also necessary for the court to express the community's abhorrence of the defendant's scheme and acts together with others to collude with foreign forces or external elements to endanger national security, and to serve the imperative of deterrence," Tam said while handing down the sentence.

Tam said that Wong and Law were the two "ringleaders or masterminds" of the conspiracy with others to endanger national security, who persisted with their scheme to collude with foreign governments and external elements to endanger national security, despite the promulgation of the security law.

At a daily news briefing in Beijing on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said that the HKSAR is a society governed by the rule of law, where the fundamental principles are that laws must be obeyed and violations must be prosecuted, and the central government supports the Hong Kong SAR in upholding national security in accordance with the law and combating acts endangering national security.

John Lee Ka-chiu, chief executive of the Hong Kong SAR, said in a statement that Wong, Law and their accomplices are among the primary culprits responsible for undermining Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, whose acts "not only severely undermined national sovereignty, security and development interests, but also directly prejudiced the well-being of the public and the stability of society".

A spokesman for the SAR government said the heavy sentence "shattered the illusion of individuals endangering national security that they could escape liability under the guise of a so-called 'international battlefront' or 'international advocacy'", and demonstrated the SAR's firm determination to safeguard national security to the global community.

A spokesperson for the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR also expressed firm support for the sentence, stating that the ruling powerfully upholds the dignity and effectiveness of the security law.