Hong Kong (CNN) -- He's one of the fieriest political activists in Hong Kong — he's been called an "extremist" by China's state-run media — and he's not even old enough to drive.
Meet 17-year-old Joshua
Wong, a skinny, bespectacled teen whose meager physical frame belies the
ferocity of his politics. Over the last two years, the student has
built a pro-democracy youth movement in Hong Kong that one veteran
Chinese dissident says is just as significant as the student protests at
Tiananmen, 25 years ago.
Echoing the young
campaigners who flooded Beijing's central square in 1989, the teen
activist wants to ignite a wave of civil disobedience among Hong Kong's
students. His goal? To pressure China into giving Hong Kong full
universal suffrage.
Wong's movement builds on years of pent-up frustration in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong students boycott classes in democracy protest
"Hong Kong is a seed of fire... the Communist Party is very scared of this tiny bit of land."
When the former colony of
the United Kingdom was returned to Chinese rule in 1997, the two
countries struck an agreement promising Hong Kong a "high degree of
autonomy," including the democratic election of its own leader. But 17
years later, little resembling genuine democracy has materialized. China's latest proposal suggests Hong Kongers may vote for their next leader, but only if the candidates are approved by Beijing.
Wong is bent on fighting the proposal — and impatient to win.
"I don't think our battle
is going to be very long," he tells CNN. "If you have the mentality
that striving for democracy is a long, drawn-out war and you take it
slowly, you will never achieve it.
"You have to see every battle as possibly the final battle — only then will you have the determination to fight."
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