Hong Kong's High Court is sentencing activist Joshua Wong on a fresh national security charge, a bad sign for anyone who still hoped the city's courts would push back against Beijing.

• Wong is accused of conspiring with others in 2020 to ask foreign governments to sanction Hong Kong and China.
• He has already been locked up more than 2,100 days and was due out in January 2027; this case can add three to ten years, or life if judged severe.
• It is his second prosecution under the national security law, stacked on top of earlier convictions for protest-related charges and subversion.
• Taiwanese activists and rights groups rallied outside Taiwan's legislature, with Lee Ming-cheh calling the trial proof of a rotten Chinese government and a warning that Taiwan must not become the next Hong Kong.
• Wong has been a target since his teens, from the 2012 school curriculum protests to the Umbrella Movement and lobbying Washington for the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.

Outlook: A long added sentence is likely, and it will harden Taiwanese public opinion against closer ties with Beijing.