A Hong Kong court jailed Joshua Wong for 10 more years on Thursday under the National Security Law. The Joshua Wong sentence settles one question beyond doubt. Beijing now rules Hong Kong completely, and “One Country, Two Systems” survives only as a slogan. Taiwan should read the verdict as a preview of life under Beijing’s “reunification”.
What did the court decide?
Wong, 30, pleaded guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces. Prosecutors accused him of plotting with activist Nathan Law in 2020 to seek foreign sanctions on Hong Kong and China. Serious collusion offences carry a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison.
Wong is already serving four years and eight months for his role in an unofficial 2020 primary election. That term would have ended in January 2027. The judge let him serve both sentences concurrently, yet he still faces a decade behind bars. A composed Wong thanked his supporters on his way out of court.
Amnesty International condemned the timing, which lands just months before his planned release. Georgetown scholar Eric Lai warned that the government can use these charges repeatedly to keep a chosen prisoner behind bars.
Who is Joshua Wong?
Wong became the face of Hong Kong’s democracy movement as a teenager. He helped lead the 2014 Umbrella Movement at just 17. He later co-founded the youth party Demosisto, which disbanded the day Beijing’s security law arrived. His lobbying abroad made him a prime target once Beijing recast advocacy as collusion.
Did “One Country, Two Systems” ever mean anything?
In 1984, Britain and China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration. That treaty promised Hong Kong its rights and freedoms until 2047. In 2017, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman dismissed it as a “historical document” without practical significance.
Beijing’s actions since then match those words. In 2019, huge crowds marched against a bill permitting extraditions to mainland China. Beijing answered with the National Security Law in June 2020. In 2021, it rewrote the electoral rules so only “patriots” could hold office. Directly elected seats in the legislature fell from 35 of 70 to just 20 of 90. A pro-Beijing panel now vets every candidate.
In 2023, lawmakers cut directly elected district council seats from about 90% of the total to roughly 20%. In 2024, local legislators added a second security law under Article 23 of the Basic Law. Each step stripped away another layer of the autonomy Beijing once promised.
How harsh has the crackdown become?
In February, judges jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai for 20 years. Three government-handpicked judges heard his case. Police raids had already forced his Apple Daily newspaper to close in 2021. Reporters Without Borders counts at least 900 Hong Kong journalists who lost their jobs within four years of the law.
By February, police had arrested 386 people for various national security crimes. Among almost 100 defendants facing charges under the security law itself, courts have fully acquitted just one. Beijing insists the law restored order and treats every defendant equally. A system that acquits almost nobody and jails lobbyists does not offer autonomy. It demands obedience.
Why should Taiwan worry?
Beijing still markets “One Country, Two Systems” as its formula for Taiwan. Its 2022 white paper, however, dropped a crucial promise. The 1993 and 2000 papers pledged no troops or administrators on Taiwan after unification. The 2022 version deleted that line. A key sweetener that set Taiwan’s offer apart from Hong Kong’s has now vanished.
Beijing also keeps force firmly on the table. Its 2005 Anti-Secession Law authorises “non-peaceful means” if peaceful unification fails. In December 2025, live-fire drills by China’s military simulated a blockade of Taiwan’s key ports. For the first time, Beijing openly framed such drills as deterrence against outside intervention.
Taiwanese voters already see through the offer. A poll by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council in May found 79.7% of respondents opposed “One Country, Two Systems”. Some 87% refused to trade freedom and democracy for Communist Party rule. Back in 2022, every mainstream Taiwanese party had already rejected the model.
What lesson does Hong Kong hold for Taipei?
Hong Kong reveals the full sequence. First come promises of autonomy. Then come security laws, vetted elections and long prison terms. A peaceful “reunification” would hand Taipei the same script. A violent one would skip the promises altogether.
Beijing promised Hong Kong 50 unchanged years. It kept that promise for barely 23 years. Britain held a binding treaty, and it protected nobody. Hong Kong never had an army to defend its freedoms. Taiwan does, and it must keep that deterrent strong.
Democracies should stop treating Beijing’s guarantees as bankable. Joshua Wong’s cell offers the clearest warning in Asia. Taipei should study that cell, not Beijing’s brochures.
