China’s top prosecution body has cast Joshua Wong, Hong Kong’s thin, bespectacled teenage activist, as a pro-independence advocate backed by the United States in an online video that warns against uprising movements across the country.
Joshua Wong, who rose to fame at the age of 15 for forcing the Hong Kong government to shelve a pro-China national education scheme in schools, appears in a video with a caption that says “American-led Western power”.
The video, released on August 1 by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate via its official Weibo account, depicts harrowing images of refugees from Central Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe dying or in horrific conditions. The video then contrasts this with pictures of a strong and stable China.
Video: Supreme People’s Procuratorate via SCMP
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang, are singled out, as are dissident activists who are “damaging China’s internal stability and harmony by hook or by crook. Behind all these incidents, we can often catch a glimpse of the dark shadow of the Stars and Stripes,” the video states.
The video ends with a message warning watchers to “Protect China, be cautious against colour revolutions.”
Wong, now 19, said on his Facebook page that he viewed the video statements as a joke and had not advocated for Hong Kong independence.
The democracy activist was found guilty by a Hong Kong court on July 21 for unlawful assembly related to the 2014 Umbrella Movement demonstrations.
With additional reporting by Coconuts HK
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