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#MilkTeaAlliance Brews Pan-Asian Solidarity for Democratic Activists

Jill Li

   A Twitter hashtag that surfaced in April as a clapback against Chinese
   nationalist attacks on a Thai celebrity for a perceived insult to
   Beijing is growing into a pan-Asian political movement.

   Named after drinks associated with places struggling against
   increasingly authoritarian impulses -- Hong Kong's milky black tea,
   Taiwan's bubble tea and Thailand's iced tea -- the cyber-based Milk Tea
   Alliance, made up of like-minded netizens primarily from those regions,
   is beginning to gain traction in the real world.

   While the group has endorsed myriad online campaigns, from Mekong River
   damming to censorship and the erosion of civil rights in Hong Kong,
   some observers say recent street demonstrations of historic proportions
   in Thailand are proof that online activism can translate into
   real-world action.

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