Thomas Maresca

Special for USA TODAY

HONG KONG — Days before a controversial election, a student who became the face of the city's pro-democracy protests in 2014 said Chinese communist leaders are squelching political freedom in this former British colony.

“Autonomy is at a low point in Hong Kong,” said Joshua Wong, 20, who led the "umbrella" movement against Beijing's crackdown on the drive for open elections to choose Hong Kong's chief executive. The protest got its name from the umbrellas students used to repel tear gas fired by police.

China, however, didn’t give in to the student demands. Instead of a popular vote, Sunday's election of chief executive is a three-person race of candidates approved by Beijing. The winner will be chosen by a 1,200-member election committee.

From the archive: Meet the 17-year-old face of Hong Kong's protests

Former chief secretary Carrie Lam, the No. 2 under unpopular outgoing Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, is favored by Beijing and expected to win. The other candidates are John Tsang, who leads public polls, and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing.

“It is a selection rather than an election,” Wong said in an interview near the Central Government Offices, where the protests kicked off three years ago. “Who becomes chief executive is still under control of the Beijing government.”

China's growing control of Hong Kong affairs alarms Wong and other activists.

They see Beijing’s influence in an upcoming trial of four democratically elected members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. The four legislators, including Nathan Law, Wong’s fellow student leader, face removal by Hong Kong's Justice Department over charges that their swearing-in oaths were invalid because they did not repeat word-for-word a strict pledge of allegiance to mainland China.

When Britain handed Hong Kong to China in 1997 after more than a century of rule, China agreed to a policy of “one country, two systems:” The communist regime would regain sovereignty, but the bustling Asian financial hub would maintain its open economic and political systems.

“What we worry about is one country, two systems turning into ‘one country, 1.5 systems,’ or finally ‘one country, one system,’” Wong said. “China has its own definition of democracy, but in fact it's totally against rule of law and judicial independence. So that will be a nightmare for us.”

China’s increasing economic, political and military influence is being felt around the region.

In October, Wong was denied entry into Thailand to speak at a student activist event. He was held in solitary confinement for 12 hours in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport before being sent back to Hong Kong and blacklisted from Thailand. In January, on a visit to Taiwan, Wong and his traveling group were accosted by hundreds of pro-China demonstrators at the airport in the capital Taipai.

Taiwan, which China considers to be a breakaway province, is governed autonomously.

On returning from Taiwan, fellow activist leader Law was assaulted by pro-China protesters at Hong Kong international airport, sending him to the hospital with minor injuries.

“I think my experience can prove the threat of China in Asia,” Wong said. “Allowing a total anti-democracy (country), with no human rights and rule of law, to be a leader of Asia is a threat, and it should not be ignored by the international community.”

Wong hopes to enlist the support of democratic countries to restore freedom to Hong Kong.

Images from 2014 protest

“It's time to renew the foreign policy of different countries toward Hong Kong,” said Wong, who traveled to the United Kingdom this month to press his case with members of Parliament.

Wong also plans to visit the United States to lobby for passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which proposes measures against officials in Hong Kong or mainland China responsible for suppressing freedoms in the city.

The bill was reintroduced in February by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Ben Cardin, D-Md.

"Joshua is an impressive and thoughtful young man who, along with his fellow activists, represents the future of Hong Kong — a future that must not go the way of Beijing’s failed authoritarianism and one-party rule,” Rubio said in a statement.

Wong’s democracy crusade will be featured in a Netflix documentary later this year called Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Cheung Chor-yung, assistant head of the department of public policy at City University of Hong Kong, said that most people in Hong Kong want greater democracy, but Wong's movement has become splintered and ineffective in the face of Beijing's overwhelming might.

“We don't have any leaders or any effective political organizations that can really consolidate the opposition. It's very fragmented after the "umbrella" movement.

Wong countered that he and other activists aren't giving up. “We know it will be a hard time for us, and that's the reason we hope to seek the international community's support," he said. “On Election Day, it will be the time for civil disobedience on the street.”

“We are facing the largest authoritarian regime in the world,” Wong added. “So the fight for democracy is not a short-term thing.”