THE MILK TEA ALLIANCE??

 


"The show of solidarity between different pro-democracy groups in Asia reflects greater intensity and camaraderies,'' Parit Chiwarak, 22, one of the Thai protest leaders told Reuters. To those who have not heard about it, the alliance is an online democratic solidarity movement made up of netizens from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It was originally started as an internet meme, arisen in response to the increased presence of Chinese trolls and nationalist commentators on social media and since then it has evolved into a dynamic cross-national protest movement pushing for democracy and human rights in Southeast Asia. But why the Milk Tea? The light-hearted name represents a shared passion for sweet tea drinks in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand.

China has increasingly become the main target of the Milk Tea Alliance [MTA]; while the Thais are showing support to anti-Chinese protests in Taiwan and Hong Kong. This does not end there, the Indian-China border disputes and the Philippines conflict with China regarding the South China Sea have enhanced the possibility of both India and Philippines joining the MTA. Over the weekend, as thousands in Thailand defied a ban on gathering and turned out to protest in Bangkok and across the country, Hong Kongers responded with messages of support. On a roadway median that used to show Hong Kong protest graffiti, a newly spray-painted slogan #StandWithThailand# appeared for people to support the movement. Elsewhere, activists set up a street stand and gave speeches urging Hong Kongers to support Thailand. And as of 19 October activists including Joshua Wong staged a protest outside the Thai consult, holding up the 'three-finger salute' of the Thai protests, showing solidarity and rewording a popular Hong Kong slogan; ''Fight for freedom, stand with Thailand! Free Thailand, democracy now! ''

The roots of the 'Alliance' started in April 2020 when the Thai actor Vachirawat 'Bright' Cheeva-ree, whose TV drama '2gether' had been popular in China, reposted an image on Twitter which listed Hong Kong as a 'country', after which the Chinese nationalist commentators attacked him and called for a boycott of his shows. Vachirawat apologized and took the image down, but Chinese netizens discovered a post by his girlfriend, model Weeraya 'New' Sukaram from 2017 which insinuated that Taiwan was an independent 'country' and that caused the attacks to redouble. The Chinese embassy in Bangkok posted a long statement on Facebook condemning the online criticism and a gruesome digital battle surfaced between the Chinese embassy and the Thai netizens.  Thai netizens took to social media and defended Vachirawat with their criticism turning into more generalized criticism of China, to an extent of launching #nnevy# Twitter war[Wikipedia]. Within Thailand support for Hong Kong and Taiwan's struggle against Chinese encroachment has unified the disparate groups of pro-democracy protesters with anti-Beijing sentiments becoming the core of their anti-authoritarian platforms.

The anti-Chinese sentiments are rapidly expanding day by day in the international community, largely because Wuhan in China is the epicentre of the Covid-19. The fact that the World Health Organisation [WHO]'s investigation team has not visited Wuhan so far despite the Chinese government's acceptance of the organisation's investigation is causing controversy on whether the 'acceptance' was just 'an air castle'. Besides despite the increasing deaths from the corona virus-WHO by now should have started its investigations already. However, Western countries have introduced economic sanctions against China in opposition to the country's forced passage of the Hong Kong national security law in late May. Also, there have been cases of Rohingya Muslim community being persecuted; and serious concerns about the infringement of Hong Kong pro-democracy figures.

China is taking the growing anti-Chinese sentiments seriously and the Chinese government has an overload on its shoulders. According to a report delivered by the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations; a thinktank under the Ministry of State Security; 'The anti-Chinese sentiments caused by COVID-19 may become more severe than when the 1989 Tiananmen Square protestors took place. The anti-Chinese sentiment may cause resistance to the Belt and Road Initiative of China.'' The Chinese Communist will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year. And the country is going to be celebrating the completion of 'xiaokang' which means a moderately prosperous society, but it won't be met with warm reactions outside China due to the strong anti-Chinese sentiment.







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