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Joshua Wong, 29, pleaded guilty at Hong Kong's High Court on 2 September 2026 to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law.
The prosecution alleged he conspired in 2020 with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign governments to impose sanctions and blockades on the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese governments.
It is his second conviction under the national security law; he is already serving four years and eight months in the 'Hong Kong 47' unofficial-primary case, in which he was sentenced on 19 November 2024.
No sentencing date was fixed immediately after the plea, and the new conviction is expected to extend his time in prison.
The national security law, in force since 2020, criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Enacted by China's national legislature rather than Hong Kong's Legislative Council and applied to the territory through Annex III of the Basic Law. It creates four offences: secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with a foreign country or external elements. Collusion is the charge Wong pleaded guilty to; the offence carries a term of three to ten years, rising to life imprisonment where the offence is treated as grave.
Passed locally on 23 March 2024 under Article 23 of the Basic Law, which obliges Hong Kong to legislate on national security itself. It keeps the 2020 offences, widens their definitions and adds new ones, including acts endangering national security through computers or electronic systems, punishable by up to 20 years and with extra-territorial reach. It also allows extended pre-trial detention, restrictions on a suspect's access to lawyers and tighter bail rules in security cases.
Hong Kong's constitutional instrument, in force since the 1997 transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China. It gives effect to the 'one country, two systems' formula under which Hong Kong retains its own legal and judicial system, and its Annex III lists national laws that apply directly in the territory.
Umbrella Movement; Wong emerges as a student leader of the pro-democracy campaign.
China's national security law for Hong Kong comes into force, creating four security offences.
The conduct now charged — an alleged conspiracy with Nathan Law and others to seek foreign sanctions and blockades.
Wong enters custody and has remained in prison continuously since.
Hong Kong passes its own Safeguarding National Security Ordinance under Article 23 of the Basic Law.
Sentenced to four years and eight months in the 'Hong Kong 47' unofficial-primary case.
The collusion case is transferred from the magistrates' court to the High Court.
Wong pleads guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces; sentencing deferred.
GS Paper 2 > International Relations > Bilateral and global groupings; comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries
General Awareness > Current Affairs > International
General Awareness > International Current Affairs
The formula under which Hong Kong, on transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China in 1997, retained its own legal, judicial and economic systems for fifty years while remaining part of China.
The list of national laws of China that apply directly in Hong Kong. The 2020 national security law was applied through this route rather than by Hong Kong's own Legislative Council.
One of the four offences under the 2020 national security law, covering requests to a foreign state for sanctions, blockades or other hostile action against Hong Kong or China.
The group prosecuted over an unofficial primary election held by the pro-democracy camp in 2020 to select Legislative Council candidates; Wong was sentenced in that case in November 2024.