Joshua Wong sits in a maximum-security prison cell, knowing the Hong Kong authorities are determined to silence him forever. On 6 June, police arrived at Stanley Prison with fresh charges that could see the high-profile democracy campaigner jailed for life. This is the reality of Hong Kong: even when behind bars, activists may be considered too dangerous ever to be freed.

An infamous anniversary is approaching. 30 June will mark five years since the passing of Hong Kong’s draconian national security law. Imposed on the supposedly autonomous territory by the Chinese state, the law made it a crime to call for democracy, leading to numerous jail sentences.

Last year, the Hong Kong authorities gave themselves still more powers to suppress dissent by passing another law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. Already, police have used the new law to arrest over 300 people. People have been convicted for such trivial offences as wearing T-shirts with protest slogans and posting on social media to commemorate China’s infamous 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Now the Hong Kong government is refusing to provide details of people arrested for national security crimes, seeking to shroud the whole process in secrecy.

Democracy movement ruthlessly suppressed

The heady days of Hong Kong’s vibrant youth-led democracy movement, which erupted into large-scale protests in 2019, are a distant memory. It’s been so long now that some of those jailed for subversion after organising primary elections in 2020 have been freed from prison, having served their sentences. But the authorities are determined to keep persecuting the most high-profile activists.

Wong’s case exemplifies the authorities’ determination to silence prominent voices. The young activist, who founded a now-disbanded pro-democracy party when he was just 19, is one of the movement’s most famous faces. He’s been repeatedly jailed for protest-related offences going back to 2017, and has now spent over four years in prison either serving sentences or on remand awaiting further trials. The latest charges are of conspiring to collude with foreign forces, for allegedly working with exiled democracy activist Nathan Law and others to urge international sanctions on China, a crime under the national security law.

Meanwhile, the trial of Jimmy Lai continues. The former business leader and media owner used his popular Apple Daily newspaper to support the democracy movement, until the authorities seized his company’s assets, forcing the paper to close in 2021. Like Wong, Lai has already received several sentences, mostly for protest-related offences, but his current drawn-out trial is on the more serious charges of colluding with foreign forces and conspiring to publish seditious materials.

Lai, who also holds British citizenship, has been held in solitary confinement since December 2020. In November 2024, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that he’s arbitrarily detained and called for his immediate release. Lai is 77 years old and in poor health, and his family are concerned that in his current conditions he might not withstand the fierce heat of another summer. The authorities clearly intend one way or another for him to die in jail.

Tradition of dissent crushed

The Hong Kong of today is unrecognisable from the country once promised. When the UK as the former colonial power handed the territory over to China in 1997, it was under a treaty in which the Chinese state committed to maintaining its separate political system for 50 years. This included guarantees to uphold civic freedoms, such as the right to protest, as enshrined in Hong Kong’s Basic Law. But China has unilaterally torn up that agreement and is determined to make Hong Kong indistinguishable from the totalitarian mainland.

It’s increasingly hard to recall the Hong Kong that had a robust tradition of dissent, where people enjoyed the cut and thrust of debate. On top of criminalising thousands of protesters, the authorities have thoroughly suppressed a once vibrant media. Hong Kong now stands at 140 out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index; in 2018, before the current intensive crackdown began, it was in 70^th place. Recently, to exert a further chilling effect, journalists have been subjected to a systematic campaign of harassment and intimidation from anonymous sources. Authorities have started to target journalists and media companies for supposedly random tax audits.

In these conditions, many civil society groups, political parties and media houses have had no choice but to shut down, while international media have been forced to relocate. In April, it was the turn of Hong Kong’s oldest and biggest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party, to close down. Long a moderate voice that was careful not to speak out against China, it had nonetheless recently received warnings from Chinese state officials.

The timing reveals the authorities’ desire for absolute control. The next election for the Legislative Council, Hong Kong’s parliament, is due in December, and in democracies, parties gear up rather than close down ahead of elections. But most Legislative Council seats aren’t directly elected and only pro-China candidates are allowed to stand. With this latest party closure, the authorities are evidently intent on denying any prospect of token opposition.

The latest civil society group to shut its doors is the Chinese Labor Bulletin, which for three decades tracked workers’ protests in China from its Hong Kong base. In June, it announced its closure; in a context where receiving foreign support can attract collusion charges, it’s no longer able to rely on international funding.

No safety in exile

In the face of the crackdown, some democracy activists have managed to escape into exile, but there’s no safety there, since China is the world’s number one transnational repressor. In July 2023, the authorities placed a bounty on the heads of eight exiled activists, offering rewards for their capture. They’ve since issued two further rounds of arrest warrants and bounties, taking the total to 19. Exiled activists are at risk of violence.

Hong Kong authorities have also used their extraterritorial powers under the 2024 law to strip exiles of passports, while police have targeted their families for questioning. May saw a further escalation of this repression, when police arrested the father and brother of US-based exile Anna Kwok, one of the 19 with a price on their heads.

Ever-growing control

There are occasional pushbacks against repression from a judicial system that still bears some resemblance to the pre-handover era and hasn’t yet been fully compromised. In March, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal overturned the convictions of three people for organising Tiananmen Square Massacre vigils. These used to be well-attended annual events in Hong Kong before the authorities stamped them out.

Visiting lawyers and judges, often from the UK, brought a level of impartiality to the system. But even this limited independence is under attack. In 2023, Hong Kong’s China-controlled leader, Chief Executive John Lee, was given the power to veto the appointment of foreign lawyers in national security cases. Five foreign judges have now resigned from the Court of Final Appeal over concerns about their complicity in enforcing unjust laws, with Australian judge Robert French the latest to quit in April. Hong Kong’s Chief Justice Andrew Cheung claims judges are only leaving because they’ve been subjected to ‘orchestrated harassment’ by the democracy movement.

China shows no signs of stopping its onslaught. In March, Hong Kong passed yet another repressive law, supposedly to guard against cyberattacks. In practice, it gives the authorities sweeping powers to investigate businesses, including internet service providers and media outlets, without needing a warrant, compelling companies to provide whatever information the Security Bureau demands. A further chilling of freedom of expression is guaranteed.

The Chinese state’s reach now extends to the most trivial aspects of daily life. Pro-China informants report people who fall foul of laws, and there’s seemingly no act of rebellion too small to escape official notice. In June, Hong Kong police warned people not to download a mobile phone game developed in Taiwan on the grounds it was secessionist; users could be charged with possessing seditious material. Teachers – who must deliver a pro-China curriculum – have been instructed not to attend 4 July events organised by the US consulate, and to discourage students from attending. Education minister Christine Choi Yuk-lin recently warned of the dangers of book fairs and other acts of ‘soft resistance’ in schools.

The Chinese state now holds all the cards in Hong Kong. Token acts of resistance are dangerous, as is continuing the campaign for basic freedoms in exile.

But Hong Kong’s story isn’t just about a small territory’s loss of freedom: it’s a warning to the world about what happens when authoritarianism advances unchecked. As Wong faces the prospect of life imprisonment for the crime of calling for democracy and Lai withers in solitary confinement, the international community must review its commitment to democracy. The very least Hong Kong’s underground and exiled activists deserve is international solidarity and support to ensure their safety in the face of attacks. As their struggle continues, the world shouldn’t look away.

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