Joshua Wong says Hong Kong is like Berlin in ‘new cold war’ as he arrives in Germany
- Activist calls city a bulwark between free world and ‘dictatorship of China’
- Wong was earlier arrested at Hong Kong airport after mix-up over bail conditions
Comparing the struggle of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters to the role of Berlin during the cold war, activist Joshua Wong told an audience in the German capital that his city was now a bulwark between the free world and the “dictatorship of China”.
The 22-year-old activist, who was in Berlin for a newspaper-sponsored event at the German parliament celebrating human rights activists around the world, pledged that protests would not be lulled into complacency by the decision of the city’s government to drop a contested new extradition law.
“If we are in a new cold war, Hong Kong is the new Berlin,” he said in a reception space a stone’s throw from the Berlin Wall on the roof of the Reichstag building, which for decades occupied the no-man’s land between Communist East Berlin and the city’s capitalist western half.
Hong Kong has been convulsed by months of unrest since its government announced attempts to make it easier to extradite suspects to China, a move seen as a prelude to bringing the pluralistic autonomous region more in line with the mainland.
Wong, leader of the Demosisto pro-democracy movement, has become a prominent face of the protests.
“We urge the free world to stand together with us in resisting the Chinese autocratic regime,” he added, describing Chinese leader Xi Jinping as “not a president but an emperor”.
The city’s leader, Carrie Lam, announced concessions this week to try to end the protests, including formally scrapping the bill, but Wong said protesters would not be lulled into complacency.
Joshua Wong cleared to travel after bail blunder leads to day of detention
He said they would try to hold the city’s government responsible for what he said were human rights violations committed against protesters, adding that Lam’s climbdown was a ruse to buy calm ahead of China’s October 1 national day.
On Tuesday, Beijing slammed the meeting between Wong and Mass, saying it was “disrespectful” of China’s sovereignty.
“It is extremely wrong for German media and politicians to attempt to tap into the anti-China separatist wave,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing.
“It is disrespectful of China’s sovereignty and an interference in China’s internal affairs.”
Joshua Wong says Hong Kong airport arrest is a bail mix-up
But instead of September 8, which the magistrate had agreed to, law enforcement read that Wong was only allowed to leave Hong Kong on September 12 and stopped him at the border.
Wong has been charged with three counts, alleging that he organised, incited and took part in an unauthorised assembly during a siege of the police headquarters on June 21.
He was released on HK$10,000 (US$1,275) bail following his first court appearance on the day of his arrest on August 30 – in addition to the travel ban, the conditions of his bail stated that he obey a curfew from 11pm to 7am, report to police once a week and stay away from their Wan Chai headquarters.
Mass arrests of Hong Kong protesters ‘could radicalise’ peaceful marchers
Before departing Hong Kong, Wong tweeted that his overnight detention was “wholly unacceptable and unreasonable”.
His party said he would also be travelling to the US and would return in late September, without giving details of his itinerary.
Wong began his career as an activist when he was just 12 years old and later became the poster child of the huge pro-democracy “umbrella movement” protests of 2014 that failed to win any concessions from Beijing. He has previously been jailed for his involvement in those protests.
Additional reporting by Agence-France Presse and South China Morning Post
