האם פעיל דמוקרטיה הונג קונגי בולט יישלח למאסר עולם בכלא הסיני? | פרשנות

Joshua Wong, once a prominent figure in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movements, now facing an additional prison term after his second conviction under a Beijing-imposed national security law. Joining us now to discuss is Benedict Rogers, senior director at Fortify Rights, co-founder of Hong Kong Watch, and author of the book, China Nexus, 30 Years in and Around the Chinese Communist Party's Tyranny. So Ben, good afternoon. Thank you for being here with us today. So Wong has been imprisoned since he was 24 years old. He was supposed to be released next year. Is there any basis right now for this new case? Well, you're absolutely right, and good afternoon. It's good to be with you again. Joshua has spent most of the last six years in prison, and he now faces the real possibility of spending the rest of his life in jail. He's the only person of all the people that have been charged under the national security law in Hong Kong, which came in in 2000. He's the only person to be charged twice under this law. And it does seem, of course he's faced multiple other charges which have made up the sentences of the last six years, but it does seem that the Hong Kong authorities are particularly keen to keep him behind bars for as long as possible. Why is that the case? He spent six years already mostly behind bars. Why are authorities keen to continue to keep him behind bars? Well, I think probably the main reason is that he was very much the face, or at least one of the faces, of the pro-democracy movement, particularly the younger generation of the pro-democracy movement. And he was well-connected and well-respected by politicians around the world. He had access to senior political leaders in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other places. And of course, the charge that he is now facing, that he appeared in court earlier this week on, is the charge of collusion with foreign forces, which essentially just means talking to foreign people of influence, whether it's politicians or journalists or activists. But I think the reason they want to keep him is because they see that he is such an influential and courageous young leader. Why do you think he thought it was best to plead guilty to the new charges? Well, I can only offer my opinion. I can't obviously speak for him, but I assume that the calculation was made that if he pled guilty, he might receive a slightly more lenient sentence than if he pled not guilty. But the reality is that's a calculation that no one really knows whether it will be successful in any significant way. And the message the world needs to hear is that he shouldn't be on trial at all. He shouldn't be in prison at all. And him pleading guilty doesn't mean he's acknowledging any crime. I would assume it means that he thinks that might result in a more lenient sentence. This law was enacted in 2020. It was a dramatic turning point for Hong Kong. It was a completely different society before 2020. Do you think it the political freedoms it had before 2020? Is there any path for Hong Kong to go back? Well, you're exactly right. I lived in Hong Kong for the first five years after the handover in 1997, and it was a completely different place at that time. China did uphold, at least on the surface, the freedoms it had promised. I think the only way we can imagine any return to freedom for Hong Kong is if there is freedom in China. So if the Chinese Communist Party either collapses and is replaced by a democracy or there's some dramatic reform within the Chinese Communist Party regime, that's only imaginable without Xi Jinping. But I don't think we can see change in Hong Kong until we see change in China.