A moderate Hong Kong politician who previously identified with the city’s pro-democracy camp has come under fire for defending the controversial national security law in front of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Gary Wong, who ran in the 2016 Legislative Council election under Ronny Tong’s Path of Democracy organization, spoke in defense of the law as a representative of the United Nations Association of China, self-exiled former lawmaker Nathan Law said on social media.

Wong reportedly told the council the accusation that Hong Kong people’s human rights situation had rapidly deteriorated since the passage of the national security law was “completely without foundation,” according to mainland Chinese media.

“The Hong Kong national security law does not target peaceful protesters and ordinary residents,” Wong said. “It only targets a tiny minority of people who commit serious crimes against national security.”

In a Facebook post, Nathan Law said that Wong is a “low-level politician” who resorts to opportunism and bandwagon-jumping.

Law further accused Wong of selling out Hongkongers for the sake of political advancement, distorting the facts and whitewashing China.

Law and Wong were election opponents in the 2016 Legco election for the Hong Kong Island constituency. Law gained over 50,000 votes and won a seat, while Wong managed 10,000 votes and was not elected.

Law added that Wong had once proposed setting up an independent committee of investigation and enhancing the power of the Independent Police Complaints Council to review the police’s handling of large-scale conflicts.

Path of Democracy, established by Ronny Tong in 2015, positioned itself as a moderate, third-way option between the pro-democracy and pro-establishment camps, but failed to win any seats in the election the following year.

Tong later accepted a position in the Executive Council under Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and has frequently defended the performance of the government in media interviews since.

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