Name? Joshua Wong
Westphalian identity? Hong Konger
Age? 24
Why is he in the news? Wong, and his fellows Lam and Chow, pleaded guilty in court in a pivotal Hong Kong protests trial. Their crime? Organising and taking part in an unauthorised assembly during the Hongkong protests of 2019.
Why do we care? We followed the protests closely last year and did not predict that the protestors would be overcome so quickly. But while the world was busy with a pandemic, China implemented the controversial ‘National Security Law,’ effectively criminalising secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces. In short, violating the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Why should you care? To be completely honest, apart from the overall sadness of this story, there is nothing to care about. As soon as they are in prison, the world will forget about them and continue as if nothing ever happened. His fate will most likely be similar to Ai Weiwei; we hear about him once in a while in the news, and then continue with our lives shortly after. A process sure to happen faster in the current global state.
Who else cares? Macau and Taiwan. Portugal and China signed a similar agreement to the Sino-British Joint Declaration over Macau. That said, it isn’t comparable to Hongkong since Macau chose China Riches Over Democracy years ago. Taiwan, on the other hand, sees this issue differently. It never agreed to the “One Country, Two Systems” dogma of Deng Xiaoping and has a much closer relationship to democratic values as well as its Western allies.
Any further comments? We must show respect to Joshua and his fellows; especially given that their actions will ultimately not change anything. They have been fighting for their freedoms and are now willing to go to prison for it. Why not just take the offers from Taiwan and live there in freedom? Maybe that mindset is the difference between an activist and RAIA writers…
