Hong Kong's sentencing of Joshua Wong gets Western politicians chirping again

Ten governments, including the US, Canada, France and Germany, recently issued a joint statement pointing fingers at the case against Joshua Wong Chi-fung, going so far as to call for "an immediate end to all unjust prosecutions." This statement is simply baffling.

Who is Wong? He is a Chinese citizen "guilty of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security." He has repeatedly broken the law, playing an active role in fueling the "black-clad violence" that prevailed in Hong Kong in 2019 and continuing to conspire with external forces to endanger national security and subvert state power. His crimes are serious, the evidence against him is solid and the punishment fits the offenses. He has also admitted to the crimes he committed. Put simply, whoever actively steps forward to stand on the side of this criminal is standing against the spirit of the rule of law.

The irony is that these Western political elites, so eager to speak up for Wong, show little leniency toward those involved in violent unrest at home. In the US, following the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, large numbers of rioters who stormed the building and assaulted police officers were sentenced to prison, with the longest sentence reaching 22 years. US media overwhelmingly referred to those involved as "insurrectionists" or "rioters." During the wave of riots that swept across multiple British cities in 2024, then prime minister Keir Starmer explicitly condemned them as "far-right thuggery" and called for swift prosecutions, allowing no room for leniency. The British government and prosecutors also treated incitement on social media as a criminal offense, demanding that platforms cooperate by handing over information and removing inflammatory content. France needs little introduction either: As violent protests continue in the country, French police have been out on the streets using batons to disperse demonstrators.

This explains why these politicians only dare to label the case with an abstract term like "unjust prosecution," while saying nothing about how these Hong Kong secessionists incited street violence and directed protesters to storm the Legislative Council and other institutions. They know perfectly well that such acts would constitute unacceptable criminal offenses in any country. Yet, they continue to apply double standards and interfere in Hong Kong affairs, demanding the release of individuals who have endangered national security. Their agenda has nothing to do with the rule of law or human rights. The fact that their joint statement specifically targets Hong Kong's national security law speaks volumes: The law has cut off the political tentacles through which Western forces sought to meddle in Hong Kong and sow chaos.

There is a Chinese saying: "If you stopped farming every time you heard a mole cricket chirp, would you ever get any crops planted?" Hong Kong today has long moved beyond the turmoil of the past and is steadily advancing from chaos to stability and from stability to prosperity. Any fantasy of turning Hong Kong into a bridgehead for destabilizing China is doomed to fail. Rather than rushing to plead the case for those who seek to undermine Hong Kong, some Western politicians would do better to put their own houses in order first.