The Milk Tea Alliance might seem like a quirky and internet-savvy catch cry but consolidating solidarity among like-minded neighbors in Thailand and Taiwan could be crucial for Hong Kongers and bad news for China.

What started as pushback against mainland Chinese internet trolls on Twitter and an outlet for anti-Chinese Communist Party sentiment, the Milk Tea Alliance between the sweet milk tea-favoring protesters of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand has evolved to include broader anti-authoritarian ideas and taps into widespread discontent at the class divide across Asia.

For the last 12 to 18-months protests have bubbled all across the region, brought to simmer by government measures but kept on the boil by desperation born out of inequality and lack of opportunity, especially for young people.

The sight of a heavily militarized police vehicle firing a mystery concoction of corrosive blue liquid at a Bangkok crowd as the protesters clutched at umbrellas last week was an eerily familiar sight for Hong Kongers, and it soon sparked a reaction across the region.

The Thai protesters share many of the same concerns as those who have hit the streets in Hong Kong: at the heart of the demands is the need for democratic reform, and concerns around freedom of speech, but now – after water cannons and riot police were deployed – there is also an anti-police brutality angle.

It wasn’t long before "stand with Thailand '' was spray painted on walls around Hong Kong and soon after the footage was shared on social media, former front-line protesters shared tips on how best to avoid arrest and how to safely remove the toxic blue dye.

Protesters in Taiwan soon joined in with demonstrations outside the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Tapei.

The common denominator among the three members of the alliance is resistance to CCP control. For Hong Kong and Taiwan the threat is obvious and ongoing, but the CCP is not simply an existential threat to Thailand. China’s damming of the upper reaches of the Mekong River has real world effects – drought, crop reduction and damage to tourism – that all cause resentment not just within Thailand, but also across the delta in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia – from where more support sprang during Bangkok’s weekend protests.

Hong Kong’s true political leaders like Joshua Wong have seized the opportunity to call for the Milk Tea Alliance to become a pan-Asian movement and there seems a deep well of discontent to tap into.

Hong Kong’s visually stunning protest marches drew the world’s attention but, regionally, anti-government unrest has also erupted in India, South Korea and Indonesia over the past few years. That is leaving aside the anti-government protests that have sprung up worldwide, many with protesters crediting Hong Kong for inspiration, in Chile, Belarus, Lebanon and even America.

The instability might have been something China could have taken advantage of at one point, but the anti-authoritarian themes of the protests and general distrust of the CCP, shown in the recent results of the Pew Research Center survey – which revealed unfavorable views on China hitting historic highs – might have shocked Xi Jinping and his cadres.

When people from 14 developed nations were recently surveyed by Pew it not only showed “unfavorable views” on China were at historic highs, but the countries within the region seemed particularly worried about CCP influence; in the survey, 86% of Japanese, 75% of South Koreans and 81% of Australians expressed unfavorable views of China.

Clearly Thailand and Hong Kong’s protesters have forged a kinship under fire, but how long before others feel connected through a shared fear of China.

India would make a natural fourth member of the alliance and not just because of its own sweet chai. Anti-China sentiment there seems at an all-time high after recent border conflicts caused the deaths of 20 servicemen in the Galwan Valley.

Even within China’s self-proclaimed borders trouble keeps brewing. Hong Kong protesters will have drawn hope from the recent protests over education reform in Inner Mongolia and they would sense from personal experience that the reality is that most protests are much larger than depicted in the media ­– especially given what a tightly controlled environment the streets of Hohhot would be for the media.

Could what started as a hashtag to combat China’s tone deaf internet trolls spark an “Asian spring” to rival the Arab Spring of large-scale protests in Arab nations a decade ago? It would seem unlikely, but nobody predicted the dramatic events ten years ago, and there are similar ingredients at play in Asia today: authoritarian or corrupt governments suppressing societies struggling with inequality and a politically awakened generation linked by social media.

The spread of Coronavirus is another factor. The outbreaks have kept protesters off the streets and but also given governments an excuse for harsh controls and lockdowns. Meanwhile the discontent bubbles away. The lockdowns have exacerbated inequality and poor standards of living. The hardline measures by governments are akin to forcing a lid on a boiling pot. It would seem this tea of discontent has been brewing for a while and if the heat isn’t turned down – by governments listening to the people –­ it may boil over in more places than one.

(Michael Cox is a journalist and Hong Kong permanent resident currently based in Australia. He has previously written for the South China Morning Post, The Age (Melbourne) and Australian Associated Press.)

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play